Stora Enso Annual Report 2011 - Rethink Volume 2 - Innovation ...

Rethink LEADERSHIP 

Stora Enso 2011 

VOLUME 2 

INNOVATION & 

LEADERSHIP 

Beyond the imagination This paper art is meant to be worn. 

Is the future wooden? Wood has a vital role in the new user-led urban environments. 

A beginner’s guide to MFC Think you know pulp inside out? 

Insert Stora Enso Facts & Figures 2011

Certified 

excellence. 

This annual report has been printed on LumiArt and LumiSilk art printing papers. The Lumi product family is developed 

for applications that require exceptionally high quality in text printing and image reproduction. In art print business, 

Lumi translates to excellence in all languages. 

The Lumi products have been awarded with the EU Ecolabel – the most prominent environmental accolade in Europe. 

This accolade joins Forest Stewardship Council’s (FSC) and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification 

Scheme’s (PEFC) environmental accolades, which had already been awarded to Lumi. The Lumi products are rethinking 

the business in terms of sustainability and quality. 

Image from the 

LUMI PHOTOGRAPHIC 

ART AWARDS 

by honorary award winner 

Wawi Navarroza 

From the series “Dominion” 

rethink 

Editorial Jump the curve 4 

Phenomenon Recycling the city 6 

News Innovation and inspiration 8 

Rewind Regards from Langerbrugge Mill 11 

From juice carton to car parts 12 

Time to wake up 18 

Agile and future-focused 22 

Interview Beyond the imagination 24 

A beginner’s guide to MFC 26 

Rewind Bomb clearance work continues 29 

LeADersHIP 

Leadership 3.0 30 

New paths ahead 33 

Building the backbone of leadership 34 

The way forward 36 

Column More than words 37 

Milk power! 38 

Gallup What was your way of rethinking during 2011? 41 

Is the future wooden? 42 

Passion for safety 48 

Safety fi rst Towards zero accidents 51 

Unique recipe 52 

Living in the year 2030 56 

Phenomenon Wanderer of the seas 58 

Fresh perspectives 66 

A new beginning 68 

Uruguay diary 72 

Point of view Five insights to creative packaging 74 

Insert Stora Enso Facts & Figures 2011 

Cover stock: LumiArt 170 g/m 2 Stora Enso, Oulu Mill (ISO 14001 certi ed) 

Text stock: LumiArt 115 g/m 2 and LumiSilk 100 g/m 2 Stora Enso, Oulu Mill (ISO 14001 certi ed) 

From juice carton to car parts 

A new life begins for Spanish beverage cartons 

after dropping them in the recycling bin. 12 

unique recipe 

PrimaPress has become the fi rst true uncoated 

alternative to coated magazine papers. 52 

It should be noted that certain statements herein which are not historical facts, including, without limitation those regarding expectations for market growth and 

developments; expectations for growth and pro tability; and statements preceded by “believes”, “expects”, “anticipates”, “foresees”, or similar expressions, are forwardlooking 

statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Since these statements are based on current plans, estimates 

and projections, they involve risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to materially differ from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. Such 

factors include, but are not limited to: (1) operating factors such as continued success of manufacturing activities and the achievement of ef ciencies therein, continued 

InsTITuTo bALeIA JubArTe 

success of product development, acceptance of new products or services by the Group’s targeted customers, success of the existing and future collaboration 

arrangements, changes in business strategy or development plans or targets, changes in the degree of protection created by the Group’s patents and other intellectual 

property rights, the availability of capital on acceptable terms; (2) industry conditions, such as strength Wanderer of product demand, of intensity the of seas competition, prevailing and future 

global market prices for the Group’s products and the pricing pressures thereto, price uctuations in raw materials, nancial condition of the customers and the competitors 

of the Group, the potential introduction of competing products and technologies by competitors; and Pulp (3) general barges economic evade conditions, humpback such whales as rates as of economic they each growth 

in the Group’s principal geographic markets or uctuations in exchange and interest rates. 

year migrate to reproduce in the Brazilian coast. 58 

Stora Enso Rethink 2011 

Editor-in-chief Lauri Peltola 

Concept & design Miltton Oy 

Printing Libris Oy 

Cover photo Courtesy of Paper-Cut-Project 

Stora Enso Oyj P.O. Box 309, FI-00101 Helsinki, Finland 

Visiting address Kanavaranta 1, tel. +358 2046 131 

Stora Enso AB Box 70395, SE-107 24 Stockholm, Sweden 

Visiting address World Trade Center, Klarabergsviadukten 70, tel. +46 1046 46000 

storaenso.com, group.communications@storaenso.com 

DAnIeL LoeWe 

LAsse ArVIDson 

VoLume 2 

InnoVATIon & 

LeADersHIP 

Stora Enso—3

Editorial 

Jump the curve 

JennI-JusTIInA nIemI 

CEO Jouko Karvinen 

challenges every one 

of us to rethink. 

4—Rethink 

Dear reader of Rethink 2011, thank you for taking 

the time to read this magazine. 

Another exciting, challenging year is behind 

us. For us at Stora Enso, it was first and 

foremost another year of learning! What, then, did 

we learn? 

Firstly, we were reminded that, even if we 

think we have changed a lot and done a lot in 

Stora Enso in the past few years, we must wake 

up every morning ready to start fresh. The past 

does not matter. Whether it is the obvious and 

severe weakness of most European economies 

that we will face for the foreseeable future or the 

digital transformation that is not just forecasted 

but already has changed our markets and more 

importantly the consumer markets we serve 

together with our customers, there is no time to 

rest. 

I 

believe the report for last year is mixed. Operationally, 

we were able to respond early to the 

first signals of a turn to the weaker in our markets, 

spearheaded by the Fine Paper May structural 

cost improvement programme and followed 

by others with capacity curtailments, cost 

controlling efforts and inventory controls. And to 

be frank with you, I am not that happy about our 

working capital performance in 2011 – we can 

and must do better. At the same time, each day 

we must Rethink how we improve our costs, our 

flexibility and our demand chain. We are not there 

yet – we have just started our journey. 

In the early days of 2012, we changed our 

Business Area structure and renamed the 

areas. Our underlying thought was and is to 

simplify, focus, clarify responsibilities and make 

everyone focus on external customers rather than 

internally divided captive supply chains. 

We have started a global Biomaterials 

Business Area, a business that most 

long-time industry insiders call Pulp but which for 

us means the promise of many new ideas beyond 

traditional paper and board raw material markets. 

The extraordinary efforts to complete our joint 

venture Montes del Plata in 2013 – with thousands 

of people working at the Punta Pereira site in 

Uruguay to build something that we, our partner 

Arauco and the local community can be proud 

of – is obviously at the top of this agenda. In the 

future, though, there is more to come. Whether it 

is nanotechnology innovations on top of what we 

already have in Micro Fibrillated Cellulose (MFC) 

or something else that will make a difference, a 

real difference is what I have asked this team to 

deliver. 

Packaging, now Renewable Packaging, the 

one area that tends to be the easiest to 

explain, is also perhaps the most challenging of 

our businesses. Selected packaging segments 

are growing at 25% a year in the markets we 

call growth markets – not emerging markets, for 

example, with 1.5 billion more consumers in 2020 

wanting renewably and cost-efficiently packaged 

food and liquid. That is a race we want to win. 

When one third or in some countries half of the 

food produced gets thrown away every day, I am 

sure you agree there is a true need to improve. The 

business case is strong. We, not only us at Stora 

Enso but also you, the reader, have to get serious 

about the 100 million tonnes of plastics going 

into landfills and oceans every year. We may not 

worry about it but our children do, and rightfully 

so. There is today a floating garbage island in the 

I strongly believe Asia will not 

follow the West, but has instead 

already jumped the curve! 

Pacific called the Pacific Plastic Ocean. We do not 

want to leave that to our kids, do we? 

In the Building and Living Business Area, 

formerly Wood Products, we have the same 

logic: if we do good for the consumer, it will 

do good for all of our stakeholders. Is this just 

dreaming? Absolutely not. The first proof point, 

now followed by several others across Europe, 

is an eight-storey building based on cross 

laminated timber (CLT) in Hackney in London UK. 

You might say meeting the costs of traditional 

concrete or even clearly beating the construction 

time of a concrete equivalent is not such a big 

deal. But how about being able to build twice the 

number of storeys due to close to 50% weight 

reduction? Or if that is not so important, how 

about – as estimated by the Centre of Sustainable 

development at Cambridge University – the 

expectation that, with the carbon sink benefit 

Stora Enso CLT offers, this building can be 

heated and lit for 29 years with the positive CO2 impact alone. I say, “very cool”. What do you say? 

And your kids? 

The paper business is now called Printing 

and Reading to signal that our focus is again 

on the ultimate market, the consumer. Several 

other changes which have already taken place in 

the consumer behaviour of news consumption, 

mobile eMedia, demographics and social media 

have impacted the North American and European 

markets for the past ten years. I strongly believe 

Asia will not follow the West but has instead 

already jumped the curve! And yet you see many 

people arguing whether the change will happen 

or not. It will not because it already did. We feel 

we are up to the challenge to win in that scenario 

too. It will be different, economies of scale and 

size will mean a lot less, and winning and keeping 

customer loyalty – as already demonstrated 

by Rethink and measured by our Net Promoter 

Score – will mean so much more. 

We have repeatedly faced criticism on 

how local communities experience our 

development actions, and interestingly enough 

most of the critics seem to come from the 

Nordics. I find it really sad, especially as I have 

had the honour myself to visit, talk with and listen 

to such local people. I hope that some of the 

articles in this magazine will open a few more 

eyes to the positive impact of what we do. And it 

is by doing, not talking, that we will continue to 

improve further and demonstrate to all stakeholders 

that we are there to stay and we are also 

there to share value with the local communities. 

Not perfect, never perfect, but learning every day. 

Let me finish with an issue that is personal 

and crucial to all of us at Stora Enso. Many of 

our colleagues work with large machines, heavy 

products and difficult environments. With that we 

have had for years, even with safety training and 

equipment, way too many accidents, even fatal 

ones. That we must change and can change, and 

you can read how in the enclosed article from 

one of our colleagues at Arapoti Mill, who has 

demonstrated how 347 people can operate more 

than four years with zero accidents. And that is 

the goal we all must now have, not a percentage 

reduction, but zero. I am sure we all want to go, 

and want our colleagues to go, back home to 

their families healthy. Every day of the year. 

Dear reader, jump to the future with us! 


Phenomenon 

Recycling the city 

Every hour some 10 000 Chinese citizens 

permanently relocate from rural areas to cities. 

Of all the emerging economies, it is China that 

is becoming urbanised at the quickest pace. 

By 2020, the number of Chinese urban dwellers 

is estimated to increase to 800 million. By that 

time, China is also expected to have become the 

world’s biggest economy. 

Urbanisation forces China to develop its 

infrastructure in a new way. Life that is resettled 

to urban areas, together with the strong 

economic boost, means modern lifestyles, 

growing consumption and increased amounts 

of litter. Food is brought home daily in billions 

of packages. Luckily, fully recyclable and 

biodegradable alternatives for food packages are 

available in increasing quantities. 

These alternatives benefit both the Chinese 

and the whole planet. 

CorbIs 



news 

Compiled by Niina Streng 

80 million 

euro is the amount 

that Stora Enso spent 

on research and 

development in 2011. 

sTorA enso 

Meet InnoMould 

Think about a yoghurt or dessert pot. Like many similar products, it is for the 

most part made of polypropylene. The purpose of the pot is to protect the 

content and be attractive. Pots made of Stora Enso’s InnoMould paper do all 

this and more, while reducing the amount of non-renewable material used for 

packaging. 

“InnoMould is a new product innovation in paper that makes plastic 

containers lighter and eco-friendlier by replacing the plastic fi lm label with 

a paper label,” says Eckhard Kallies, who is responsible for the sales of 

Stora Enso’s Speciality Papers. 

The potential of InnoMould paper is enormous, as it is suitable for all polypropylene 

packages that are produced using the injection moulding process 

– meaning millions of packages every day. Replacing plastic fi lm labels that 

contain brand and product information with InnoMould paper reduces the 

use of fossil-based material while also making the package stiffer. Thanks to 

the improved strength properties, the walls of the pots can be produced with 

up to 50% less material. 

Outstanding printing results are a further important benefi t, making 

InnoMould ideal for creating the kind of realistic visuals that catch 

consumers’ attention. 


sTorA enso 

Say no to toxic wood 

Did you know that until now the most used type of 

wood with long-term outdoor durability has been 

hazardous to nature? Stora Enso Building and 

Living has developed a new wood modifi cation 

method that enables good longevity outdoors, 

but in a safe, non-toxic and eco-friendly way. The 

new treatment, called Q-Treat, makes wood hard, 

fi re-resistant, decay-resistant and weatherproof. 

The characteristics of the treated wood make 

Q-Treat products ideal for garden and outdoor use, 

for example cladding, decking, marine docks and 

piers, children’s playground equipment, outdoor 

light poles, fences, electricity poles – and even for 

under the railroad tracks. The treated wood can 

also be used to manufacture beautiful solid wood 

fl ooring, panelling and fi re-safe staircases for the 

interiors of buildings and homes. 

The Q-Treat wood products will be available for 

sale in spring 2012. 

storaenso.com/buildingandliving 

our papers 

in three clicks 

Stora Enso’s web pages will offer easier 

access to the company’s fi ne papers’ 

sales representatives, sustainability 

issues and certifi cates from summer 

2012 onwards. 

storaenso.com/printingandreading 

Tracking the water footprint 

Water scarcity is beginning to rival climate 

change as an issue of global concern. The 

concept of a product’s water footprint was 

originally developed for agriculture to examine 

how much water is consumed during all stages of 

the production of foodstuffs. Consumers are also 

becoming interested in the water footprints of 

packaging materials. 

Stora Enso’s Skoghall Mill in Sweden has 

started to trace the water footprint of its liquid 

packaging board using a methodology devised 

by the Water Footprint Network. The fi rst water 

footprint study, prepared in collaboration with the 

Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the WWF, was 

published in 2011. 

Read more about the water footprint study in 

Stora Enso’s Global Responsibility stakeholder 

magazine on storaenso.com. 

sHuTTersToCk 

LAsse ArVIDson 

Taking over 

the supply chain 

news 

1 100 

is the number of 

patents Stora Enso 

has in total. 

Stora Enso is strengthening its leading position in 

corrugated packaging in Central and Eastern Europe 

by renewing containerboard capacity at Ostrołęka 

Mill in Poland. The production of high-performance 

containerboard with the new recycled fi bre-based 

containerboard machine is expected to begin early in 

2013. 

The company will take a more active role in the 

whole supply chain of corrugated packaging, starting 

from the collection of recovered fi bres. “The present 

collection rate is only at around 40% in Poland, 

so there is a lot of potential to increase collection. 

With this investment, we can competitively secure 

a containerboard fl ow to Stora Enso’s corrugated 

packaging units,” explains Anna-Maria Tuominen- 

Reini, who is responsible for Supply Chain and 

Business Development in Corrugated Packaging. 

For Stora Enso, high-performance containerboard 

represents effective package performance in terms 

of supply chain functionality and printability, as well 

as the sustainability advantages. Demand for high 

performance corrugated packaging is increasing 

rapidly, and customers storing goods, for example in 

cold storage, particularly appreciate lasting strength 

values and cost effi ciency. 


news 

30 

is the number 

of patents and 

patent applications 

Stora Enso made and 

received approval for 

during 2011. 

TAIsTo sAArI 

Machines in shipshape 

Condition monitoring carried out by the machine and equipment 

operators themselves has, in recent years, been successfully tested 

at Stora Enso’s Varkaus and Veitsiluoto paper mills. Operator Driven 

Reliability is a method of operating in which operators regularly collect 

data from various production measurement points using not only their 

sense perception but also user-friendly palm computers acquired for 

the purpose. 

Operators who are very familiar with the process are the fi rst 

to notice changes in machines that are regularly monitored, and 

through their actions they can prevent unexpected production breaks. 

Preventing production breaks results in considerable cost savings and 

simultaneously diversifi es the job description of the operators. 

sTorA enso 


Grow a ticket to Brazil 

Stora Enso in Sweden has launched a 

seedling competition for Swedish university 

students. The student with the tallest spruce 

seedling after three months of growing 

wins a trip to Brazil, including a visit to 

Stora Enso’s operations. 

facebook.com/StoraEnsoSverige 

Using diamonds to save energy 

Producing mechanical pulp by grinding requires a lot 

of energy. In August 2011, Stora Enso’s Maxau Mill 

implemented a new grinding process that requires 

25% less energy to produce the same amount of pulp. 

These considerable energy savings are gained by 

replacing the traditional ceramic grinder stone with 

a steel cylinder with industrial diamonds attached 

precisely on its surface, forming a homogeneous 

pattern. 

After the rebuild, the grinding process is better 

controlled, as individual differences between 

machines disappear and the machines’ use can be 

optimised. The machines’ higher production capacity 

corresponds with a boost to energy effi ciency. In 

addition, the end product is more uniform in quality, 

as the diamonds keep grinding wood precisely and 

tirelessly. 

Stora Enso was involved in developing this new 

grinding process in co-operation with four other 

companies in the industry. 

sTorA enso 

Better packaging for chocolate 

Stora Enso Renewable Packaging has launched 

enhanced versions of the Performa carton boards. 

Thanks to several reforms made at Fors Mill in Sweden 

in 2011, these products, used in chocolate and 

confectionery packages, now come with excellent 

smoothness, increased strength and an enhanced 

visual appearance. 

“By listening to printing houses and brand owners 

and by focusing on the capabilities of the rebuilt board 

machine, we focused our development work on the 

key properties of strength and printability,” says Eva 

Lundqvist, Product Manager at Fors Mill, discussing 

the successful development work. 

Rewind What has happened since Rethink 2010? 

Regards from 

Langerbrugge Mill 

Langerbrugge Mill in Belgium, along with two 

German mills, Maxau and Sachsen, puts a 

lot of energy into improving recovered paper 

sourcing. Stora Enso began a project in 2011 

with the aim of reminding local citizens that local 

recycling means more than just separating waste. 

“In an ideal world, locally recovered paper (RCP) is 

used as raw material for making new paper products 

at the closest paper mill. That is defi nitely the most 

sustainable way of using RCP. Today however, RCP is 

routinely transported across Europe – distances which 

are far too large – even to and from Langerbrugge. 

What worries me the most is that 20% of the RCP 

collected in Europe ends up in other territories, for 

instance in China. That defi nitely puts the future 

of local mills at risk,” says Mill manager Chris De 

Hollander. 

The project includes lobbying and communications 

actions from advertising campaigns to social 

media presence. Its goal is to share knowledge about 

the importance and sustainability of locally used 

recovered paper and convince inhabitants that local 

recycling really does matter. 

“People who deposit their waste paper in local 

paper recycling bins deserve to know that they are 

doing more than just recycling – and that their actions 

make a difference,” De Hollander continues. 

storaenso.com/rethink 

youtube.com/storaenso 

Teemu kuusImurTo 

Taste for waste 

Last year’s Rethink 

magazine profi led the 

Stora Enso Langerbrugge 

Mill, which 

is one of the world’s 

top mills in terms of 

recycled paper usage. 


It is a late Friday morning in Barcelona. We 

join Olga Roger on her balcony, overlooking 

a courtyard in the chic neighbourhood of 

Eixample. In her late 40s, Roger epitomises 

the busy, modern woman who has a lot going on. 

A professional in communications, she has two 

jobs, one in Barcelona and one in Madrid. On top 

of this, she recently submitted her doctoral thesis 

and now regularly lectures at the university. 

We have come to meet Olga Roger to discuss 

her consumption and recycling habits. Due to 

her busy schedule, she consumes plenty of 

packaged food and drinks. She also represents 

the eco-conscious consumer who knows what 

she buys and why. 

“In the morning I eat like this,” Roger says, 

“Toast, cheese and jam with orange juice.” She 

picks up a juice brick off the table and sticks a 

straw in it. “These single-packed carton juices 

are my favourites. When you’re in a hurry, you just 

take one with you.” 

The fact that Olga Roger likes things to be 

practical does not mean that she makes purely 

rational choices. Marketing research tells us 

that the act of shopping is loaded with feelings, 

desires and habits, many of which we are unaware 

of. “I want my orange juice and vegetable soup 

packaged in carton and my Coca-Cola in an 

aluminium tin,” Roger says, “I always buy them 

like that.” She studies the juice brick in her hand 

and squeezes it gently. “I think many people have 

clear preferences in packaging, even if they never 

think about it. People just buy what feels right. I 

do, anyway.” 

A private issue 

For a growing number of consumers, what feels 

right is what can be recycled. For Roger, this is 

a decisive factor. “The packaging I buy, I always 

recycle. There are recycling bins just next to my 

house, so it’s easy to take out the recycling when 

I walk my dog,” she says. 

What sounds like a simple personal habit is 

no minor issue when looked at on a larger scale. 

Together, European consumers use over a million 

tonnes of beverage cartons per year. Whether 

these beverage cartons get recycled is a serious 

matter for the environment and the climate. Olga 

Roger, though a rigorous recycler herself, does 

not see it exactly in that way. 

“Sure, I care about climate change. But to be 

honest, it feels distant and global to me. What 

really drive me are things that are close by,” 

she says. Roger, a born and bred Barcelonian, 

glances anxiously at the courtyard. “You may 

think that Barcelona is a nice city, and it is, but it 

is also a polluted one. There is a lot of noise and, 


A 21st century proverb: The quickest 

way to know a woman is to go 

shopping with her. Too bad that Olga 

Roger has just been to the grocery 

store. 

Text Eeva Taimisto Photos Daniel Loewe 

From 

juice carton 

to car parts 

A busy day ahead 

For Olga Roger, 

breakfast is a time to 

recharge. 


in many places, litter. When I leave my house, it 

is all just there in front of me,” Roger frowns, “It’s 

about my life, about my city. Recycling is a private 

issue, really.” 

Like Olga Roger, many consumers living in big 

cities all over the world have come to realise the 

problem. Litter in cities and growing mountains 

of waste in landfills on their outskirts are not a 

pretty sight. The collection rate for used beverage 

cartons in Spain is 55% and growing. Yet the 

global waste problem has to do with much more 

than that. 

According to the European Commission and 

the OECD, the way we use our natural resources 

is the key question in today’s world where nature 

cannot keep up with the growing consumption. 

Policymakers are calling for resources to be used 

in the most efficient way possible. 

What matters to shoppers are the materials 

they choose to buy: whether they are renewable 

and how efficiently they can be recycled. 

Trash secrets 

A new life begins for Olga Roger’s cartons after 

she drops them in the recycling bin. The carton 

waste is picked up and brought to a municipal 

sorting plant. After sorting, the used beverage 

cartons are sold and transported to Stora Enso’s 

Barcelona Mill. The waste does not have to travel 

far as the mill is conveniently located only 20 

kilometres from the city centre. 

We approach the mill alongside trucks that 

seem to be in a hurry to unload their cargo. 

Nearing the mill yard, you begin to understand 

the impact recyclers like Olga Roger have. The 

volume of waste in view is jaw-dropping. 

“Every year, we receive about two billion 

used beverage cartons from a radius of 1 200 

kilometres,” says Mill manager Juan Vila. He 

stands in the yard, looking content as he watches 

the trucks enter and leave. The carton bales 

they leave at the plant look dirty, some of them 

hosting hordes of flies. “For consumers that is 


garbage. For us it is raw material,” he declares, 

smiling. 

There is good reason for Vila’s contentment. 

The way in which Barcelona recycles used 

beverage cartons is unique globally. With the 

help of specialised technology, all parts of the 

carton can be reused at the plant. With no waste, 

the cartons are given a new life as energy or raw 

material. 

“Let me first tell you the basic facts,” says 

Vila, as we walk across the yard. “The cartons 

are made of fibre, plastic and aluminium. About 

75% is fibre, 20% plastic and 5% aluminium.” He 

picks a carton from the ground and tears it open. 

“There is plastic and aluminium here on the inside 

layer of a juice carton. Recycling all of these – the 

fibres, plastics and aluminium – requires a few 

tricks.” 

Vila walks us to a conveyor belt that transports 

the packaging, along with other paper waste, 

into a big pulper. “This is where it all starts,” he 

explains, “Here the fibres in the beverage cartons 

are washed away from the plastic and aluminium. 

The fibres are cleaned, and then we make new 

board out of them. The board will be used for 

example in food packaging, like cereal boxes. 

It isn’t used for packages with direct contact to 

groceries though, such as juice or milk cartons.” 

Juan Vila points at a pile of dirty-looking 

waste plastic and aluminium lying next to the 

pulper. “The revolutionary part, however, is what 

happens to that aluminium and plastic once the 

fibres are removed,” he explains, continuing, “All 

of that used to go to the landfill. Nowadays we are 

able to reuse everything. Out of the plastic, we 

make energy. The aluminium we recover as bricks 

and sell it to aluminium companies.” 

Heat and aluminium 

Explained by Vila, the recycling of beverage 

carton layers sounds perfectly simple and 

effortless. History, however, reveals some difficulties 

along the way. Stora Enso experimented with 

Tero PAJukALLIo 


Innovative concept 

Mill manager Juan 

Vila takes pride in 

the unique recycling 

process. 

Raw material 

in bales 

The Barcelona Mill 

sources its raw 

material from a radius 

of 1 200 kilometres. 

From garbage to 

raw material 

The used beverage 

packages will be 

processed into new 

carton material, heat 

and aluminium bricks. 

the process for years at Varkaus Mill, Finland, but 

was not able to recover the aluminium unoxidised 

despite great research efforts. It might not have 

worked in Barcelona either, not without the 

innovative use of a technology called pyrolysis. 

This technology was awarded by the European 

Union last year for bringing great environmental 

benefits. Barcelona Mill is the first mill in the 

world to use the pyrolysis technology on a large 

scale. 

“Pyrolysis works by heating up the plastic 

and aluminium to a temperature of 500°C, but 

without oxygen. This way, the plastics do not 

burn. Instead they transform into gas and oil, 

which are used to generate energy for the mill,” 

Vila explains. 

He walks over to a pile of perfectly-shaped 

aluminium bricks that glitter in the sun. “And 

this is what becomes of the aluminium in your 

beverage carton after being treated in the heat 

of pyrolysis. It comes back to life in good shape.” 

He picks up a brick, and passes it over. “These 

bricks will now be sold to aluminium companies. 

They will make new aluminium products, such as 

car bumpers, out of them.” 

We stop here for a while to reflect on the 

life cycle of a juice carton. Once, it was a tree 

growing somewhere in Sweden or Finland. Then 

it was turned into the orange juice package in 

your fridge. After recycling, it became another 

package, perhaps a box for corn flakes or a 

perfume bottle. But it also became energy for 

a mill and aluminium for new products. Juan 

Vila grins and adds: “Yes. The orange juice you 

bought yesterday can, in a few short weeks, be 

part of a car. Just think about it next time you 

have a drink of juice!” 

Changing the game 

Judging by the amount of cartons the mill 

treats, it has a very real positive impact on the 

environment. We walk into Juan Vila’s office, and 

he lays the figures out. “By recycling plastic and 

aluminium, we save about 20 000 tonnes of waste 

annually. Without pyrolysis, all that waste would 

end up in the dump.” This sounds like a fantastic 

outcome, but we doubt the mill puts in all this 

effort solely to save the environment. “It’s not just 

that,” interrupts Vila, “We also make business 

out of it.” He grabs a pen and a piece of paper to 

demonstrate. 

“First of all, we avoid the dumping fees. 

Second, we produce aluminium and get to 

sell it. Third, we produce gas and oils that can 

be converted into energy in the form of steam 

or even electricity.” Vila shows us a graph. 

“Currently, we cover around 20% of our steam 


needs with the energy we retain from used 

beverage carton plastic. That’s quite a lot.” 

Innovations rarely fall from the skies, so how 

did the mill come up with pyrolysis? “We worked 

hard on it with Alucha,” Vila says. He explains 

that the origins of the innovation are with Alucha 

Recycling Technologies, a company set up by a 

group of students to develop the use of pyrolysis. 

Together with Stora Enso, Alucha tested and 

developed the technology on an industrial scale. 

Vila calls Hans Cool, one of the founders 

of Alucha, asking him to stop by at his offi ce. 

Cool, of Dutch origin, arrives after a few minutes, 

looking busy but full of energy. He tells us how 

Alucha got started, “Me and my friend Gijs 

Jansen studied together in an MBA programme 

here in Barcelona. Another friend had a contact 

at Cambridge, Carlos Ludlow, who was studying 

pyrolysis as the subject of his PhD. We teamed up 

with Ludlow and founded the company together.” 

The students had a business plan for 

separating plastics from aluminium but were not 

sure how it would work. They contacted Juan 

Vila, who got interested in their idea. As a result, 

Stora Enso and Alucha ended up testing and 

modifying the technology for six years, hoping 

that it would eventually yield results. All the while, 

the young entrepreneurs of Alucha were gambling 

their future prospects. 

“That’s the thing with innovation,” Cool says 

and continues, “The world is full of nice ideas. 

But will they work in real life? Can you make them 

happen on an industrial scale? Will they really 

change the game?” Cool scratches his forehead, 

thinking, “We were not sure about pyrolysis 



ALuCHA 

Long path 

“It is not easy to put 

innovation into an 

industrial process. It 

took us almost eight 

years to get here,” 

says Hans Cool, one 

of the developers of 

the pyrolysis. 

Back to the 

breakfast table 

“The carton board 

produced from the 

old beverage cartons 

is used for making 

cereal boxes, for 

example,” explains 

Juan Vila. 

and cartons. We were graduates fresh out of 

university with all our eggs in one basket, and we 

had to work hard before it all came together.” 

Vila nods, “I am proud of the perseverance 

that we had with this project, both Alucha and 

Stora Enso. We were doing something completely 

new, and we had to push for it.” He stops to look 

out of his offi ce window. “I think that’s the key to 

everything in life. Never say that you would like 

to do something. You will have to simply make it 

happen without giving up. Never give up.” 

Electricity out of plastics 

Seen from Barcelona Mill, Olga Roger’s breakfast 

set-up starts to look a little different. The way 

she consumes does not only make a difference 

to the environment but it also contributes to 

innovation: the choices people like Roger make 

at the grocery store and at the recycling bin have 

a real impact. It is astounding how much value 

can be created out of something as simple and 

unattractive as waste. 

“The possibilities of carton are almost infi nite,” 

says Vila, “and there’s still so much we could do.” 

The process at Barcelona Mill, for one, could be 

developed further. “We could still improve the 

quality of the aluminium to make foil out of it. 

And maybe one day the aluminium from used 

beverage cartons could go back to be reused in 

beverage cartons.” 

Juan Vila is also thinking about energy. “You 

could produce electricity out of the plastics in the 

beverage cartons. Or you could make car fuel out 

of it.” Pyrolysis could also be used to generate 

energy out of making paper. “With it, you could 

separate organic matter and minerals from paper 

sludge and make bioenergy from the organic 

stuff,” Vila explains, “Alucha is already testing it.” 

Looking to the future, Vila’s dreams fl y even 

higher. “Society will have to learn to recycle and 

to recover what cannot yet be recovered,” he 

says. “Everything we take from nature will have to 

be recycled. We still don’t have all those technologies, 

but one day we will.” Vila leans forward 

in his chair, a glint of inspiration in his eyes. 

“Remember that we are making business out of 

waste that until recently had very little value, and 

which many did not even know how to recycle. 

And here we are,” Vila grins, “This is one damned 

exciting business.” 

A new life of pyrolysis 

Pyrolysis (‘Pyros’ is Greek for ‘fi re’) of an element means 

heating up the material in the absence of oxygen at temperatures 

above 300–400°C. The process itself has been around for 

centuries and is commonly used in the oil industry. In the case of 

Barcelona Mill, it is an existing idea applied in a new context. 

At Barcelona Mill, pyrolysis is used as a recycling technology 

to treat plastic and aluminium laminates. During the 

process, the long chains of polyethylene are being broken 

at random, thus generating gases such as butane, methane 

and heavier oils, which can be used as energy at the mill. The 

technology renders the aluminum unoxidised, and therefore it 

can be recycled and remelted without diffi culty. 

Stora Enso’s Barcelona Mill is the fi rst and only one in the 

world running an industrial-scale pyrolysis system for recy- 

cling polyethylene and aluminium. It is, however, not the fi rst 

technology to separate aluminium from plastics. Stora Enso’s 

Varkaus Mill experimented with a similar process for about ten 

years using a different technology. The technology at Varkaus 

Mill required higher amounts of oxygen in the process, which 

oxidised the aluminium. This lowered the value of recovered 

aluminium and made its recycling more diffi cult. 

Stora Enso and Alucha Recycling Technologies received 

the European Commission’s ‘Best of the Best’ LIFE environment 

award in 2011 for this project. The award is granted by 

the European Commission and it recognises Europe’s very 

best environmental projects. 



Time to 

wake up 

The media arena is changing. As yet, there is no consensus on 

the speed of that change, but the direction is clear: towards 

digital content. In the most extreme case, paper consumption 

could be cut in half by 2020. 

Text Jarno Forssell Illustration Shutterstock/Miltton 

In the fi rst scene of a YouTube video viewed 

over three three million times, a baby enthusiastically 

pushes an iPad iPad screen: “This one 

works!” Then she desperately tries to make 

a a magazine work in the same way. She can can 

turn the pages and crinkle them, but the 

pictures just won’t won’t get bigger or open up. 

“Is it broken, or what?” At the end of the video, the 

child dumps the magazine and goes back to the 

interface she can work with her fi ngers. 

Is this the future for print media, as twenty years 

from now these children born into a digital world will 

be adults? 

The change may happen even sooner than we 

think. The migration of media companies towards 

producing digital content started already a long time 

ago. Now, online media has gained a strong foothold 

alongside print: online publications, mobile content 

and, most recently, applications for tablets such as 

the iPad are becoming more and more popular. 

“Most consumers never really warmed up to the 

experience of reading text on a computer screen. 

Tablets, however, have changed the situation: many 

users consider reading on a tablet just as pleasant, 

if not more so, than reading print materials,” says 

consultant Alex Bhak, who has been following the 

media and technology sectors for 15 years. 

Bhak is a partner at the London-based global 

consultancy Bain & Company. According to him, the 

transformation we are seeing in the world of media 

is most apparent in mature markets. 

“The digital shift began in markets like the USA. 

We are talking about a long-term development with 

wide-ranging effects. The power has shifted to 

consumers, who can now choose when, how and 

where they consume information,” Bhak explains. 

Newspapers feel 

the biggest impact 

Transition to digital media is most apparent in the 

printed press. press. A report report published in autumn 2011 

by the the World Association of of Newspapers and News 

Publishers (WAN-IFRA) described how newspaper 

circulation circulation in in North America as as well as in Central, 

Eastern and Western Europe has dropped notably 

over over the past few years. 

“The value of basic news has decreased, since 

consumers have have access to to various news sources at 


no cost. Print publishers have had to develop a 

combination of news, editorial commenting and 

analysis,” says Bhak. 

Newspapers are also moving to the digital 

world at a fast rate. In the UK, for example, most 

national newspapers offer, in addition to their 

online services, applications for tablets. And 

for their advertising customers, many also offer 

packages that combine print and digital media 

advertising. 

According to Bhak, “Some publishers have 

successfully combined print and online media. 

They don’t simply reproduce printed content on 

the web. Instead, they offer added value on top 

of print. Publishers who have taken an integrated 

approach are experiencing greater success than 

those who haven’t.” 

The digital transition has also affected 

magazines but to a somewhat lesser extent than 

newspapers. Glossy lifestyle magazines have a 

high-end look and feel, and they offer a reading 

experience more diffi cult to replicate using digital 

media than the news fl ow offered by newspapers, 

which is perceived to be a basic commodity. 

Nevertheless, digital content has managed 

to come up on the heels of print in the magazine 

world, as well. According to a study released 

at the end of 2011, approximately a third of 

consumers of magazine brands published by 

Time Inc., the biggest magazine publisher in the 

USA, read both print and digital content. 55% of 

consumers relied exclusively on print, and 15% 

on digital media. (American Magazine Study, 

autumn 2011.) 

Printed forms of direct mail, such as brochures 

and product catalogues, have fared better than 


magazines. In this area the digital transition 

has been subdued, as the paradigms of digital 

advertising have not developed far enough. 

“Effi ciency in digital marketing is about the 

ability to target consumers effectively and having 

the right measurement capabilities in place. 

These elements are emerging today, but they are 

still nascent and immature. Until that changes, 

the demand for paper in push marketing will 

remain relatively better than it will in other print 

forms,” Bhak believes. 

Cycles speeding up 

New media have always been expected to 

displace existing ones. Television was supposed 

to edge out radio and cinema, but the opposite 

occurred. The death of printed media has been 

declared at least since PC and internet use 

became widespread. For now, however, online 

media merely supplement printed media. 

“At some stage, there may be a turning 

point where digital forms begin to replace or 

‘cannibalise’ non-digital media consumption,” 

states Bhak. 

And that scenario might not be far in the future. 

Earlier, consumer behaviour changed rather 

slowly, lagging behind technological development. 

Recently, however, cycles of adopting new 

technology have been picking up speed. 

“It took around 20 years until half of the 

American population had a personal computer. 

For mobile devices, it took some 15 years, while 

the estimate for touch screens is only 5 to 7 years. 

And in future, such cycles of adoption might be 

even shorter.” 

In Western europe paper consumption 

could decrease 15–20% by 2020. 

Social media adopted faster than any other 

device / media 

% of U.S. population using technology / service 

80 

60 

40 

20 

0 

0 5 10 

bAIn & ComPAnY 

DVD player 

Television 

Radio 

Cellphone 

PC 

Telephone 

Years after 

product launch 

Global shipment 

Units 

60M 

40 

20 

0 

Apple iPad 

Apple iPhone 

+ iTouch 

Nintendo Wii 

Nintendo DS 

Sony PSP 

Apple iPod 

RIM Blackberry 

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Quarters after 

Apple estimate 

Actual 

product launch 

The future depends on what people do with their 

tablets – will they end up as an experiment, or 

will consumers use them as a daily news source? 

For the time being, however, consumers still 

favour print. A study conducted by the Two Sides 

initiative, which works to promote the use of 

print and paper, revealed that 80% of European 

consumers prefer to read print rather than on a 

screen. In younger age groups, the percentage is 

even slightly higher. 

Paper consumption cut in 

half? 

Bain & Company has compiled two scenarios that 

foresee a media revolution and the development 

of paper demand on the basis of three infl uential 

factors. These factors are the development of 

technology, in particular the growing popularity of 

tablets; a change in consumer behaviour towards 

favouring digital media; and the development of 

advertising paradigms involving an ad spending 

shift towards digital media. 

In a moderate, evolution-based scenario 

for Western Europe, paper consumption could 

decrease 15–20% per cent by 2020. In this 

scenario, tablets become like televisions, a 

regular household item, and consumer behaviour 

changes slowly. 

“In a more aggressive change scenario, each 

consumer would have their own personal tablet, 

and ‘digitality’ would become a natural part 

of their world. In this case paper consumption 

would be cut nearly in half in Western Europe,” 

Alex Bhak says, “Globally, we see a worst-case 

scenario of a 25% reduction in paper demand for 

newspapers, magazines and fi ne papers by 2020.” 

The future of print and digital media depends 

on what people do with their tablets. Will they 

end up nothing more than an experiment, or will 

consumers use them as their daily news source? 

But it’s not just about tablets. Bhak expects also 

other new ways of consuming information, with 

even better interfaces, to emerge over the next 10 

years. The pace of change may accelerate both in 

technological trends and in consumer behaviour. 

“I believe that once consumers have had a 

taste of the freedom of choice, the change will be, 

to some extent, permanent,” says Bhak. 

In addition to technology, consumer behaviour 

and advertising paradigms, there is a fourth factor 

infl uencing the consumption of print media: the 

social media, which have signifi cant coverage. 

Facebook, with its 750 million users, is already 

being called the world’s ‘third biggest nation’. 

The social media’s direct impact on print 

media consumption is, however, diffi cult to 

predict. A key question is how will the social 

media affect online advertising? Will they enable 

marketing that is better and more effectively 

targeted than online advertising thus far? 

Print growing in the East 

Although the digital shift has hit newspapers hard 

in mature markets, on a global level print media is 

not a sunset industry. According to WAN-IFRA’s 

report, newspaper circulation has increased 

in the last fi ve years in Africa, Asia and South 

America. Today the largest newspaper markets 

are in India, China and Japan. 

What the future holds is another story. It is 

entirely possible that consumers in emerging 

markets skip a phase of media evolution, “jump 

the curve” and move directly to digital services. 

There have been signs of this at least in China, 

where wall-newspaper readers have become 

smartphone users, bypassing the print phase 

altogether. 

“Consumers in China have both the technological 

opportunity and the readiness to quickly 

change their behaviour. This is partly because 

there was no previous behavioural phase and 

partly because online they have access to a much 

better offering than now,” Bhak concludes. 


In the beginning of 2012, Stora Enso renewed its Business Area structure and 

renamed the Business Areas. Product orientation was replaced with a focus on 

end uses, and from now on the four business areas are known as Biomaterials, 

Printing and Reading, Renewable Packaging and Building and Living. 

Text Lauri Peltola Photos Stora Enso 

Agile and 

future-focused 


As a part of this renewal, the paper 

businesses were put under one 

area because they have much in 

common compared to the other 

Business Areas. At the same time, 

the company wanted to increase the transparency 

of the pulp business and make sure that, 

from the financial reporting point of view, all 

stakeholders can see the impact of market pulp 

in the company’s financial results. Furthermore, 

in the new setup, the different nature and focus 

of the various businesses becomes clearer than 

before. 

“We now organise our businesses based 

on the different markets and customers they 

serve. The aim is to increase our organisation’s 

competitiveness, flexibility, speed and accountability, 

and to minimise dependencies between 

the businesses to ensure that we have the ability 

and agility to seize the opportunities arising from 

the changes in the global economy,” says CEO 

Jouko Karvinen. 

The names of the Business Areas were 

changed because the old titles were very 

product-orientated. The world is changing rapidly, 

and these businesses are better described as 

having diversified missions and visions rather 

than merely products. The company therefore 

decided to rename its Business Areas in a more 

future-focused and consumer-related manner. 

Biomaterials with 

opportunities 

One of Stora Enso’s strategically defined growth 

areas is pulp from sustainably-managed tree 

plantations. The new Biomaterials Business 

Area will focus on this growth and the innovative 

possibilities of fibre as a renewable raw material. 

The new Business Area will also increase 

transparency in financial reporting, as earlier the 

renewed 

Stora Enso has renewed its Business Area and reporting 

segment structure. The Group combined the paper 

reporting segments Newsprint and Book Paper, Magazine 

Paper and Fine Paper into one Business Area and 

reporting segment called Printing and Reading. 

The reporting segments Consumer Board and 

Industrial Packaging now form the Renewable Packaging 

market pulp sales figures were included in several 

reporting segments. 

The Biomaterials Business Area contains the 

joint venture pulp mills in Brazil (Veracel) and 

Uruguay (Montes del Plata) and their related 

plantations, the Skutskär Pulp Mill in Sweden, 

and the Enocell and Sunila pulp mills in Finland. 

The plantations in Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil and 

the trial plantations in Laos and Thailand also 

form part of the new Business Area. 

“The overall demand for pulp is growing 

worldwide, especially in Asia. Even though the 

market is volatile and price changes are common, 

demand continues to increase. Pulp is a very 

sustainable raw material. It can be used for many 

purposes, many of which are hard to imagine 

today, so we believe that there is a lot of potential. 

Establishing these operations as its own business 

area will give us better possibilities to develop the 

business and serve our customers,” says Juan 

Bueno, head of the Biomaterials Business Area. 

Seizing 

opportunities 

The aim is to increase 

our organisation’s 

competitiveness, 

flexibility, speed and 

accountability to 

ensure that we have 

the ability and agility 

to seize the opportunities 

arising from the 

changes in the global 

economy. 

Business Area and reporting segment. A new Business 

Area and reporting segment called Biomaterials was 

established chiefly comprising the company’s jointventure 

pulp mills, stand-alone pulp mills and wood 

plantations. 

The Wood Products Business Area was renamed as 

Building and Living. 


Interview 


Yes. The heart-shaped wig on the cover is indeed made of paper. Amy Flurry 

and Nikki Nye’s custom-made paper art installations are fueled by an appreciation 

of the grace and nuance inherent in this seemingly humble material. We 

met with Amy Flurry to discuss their work. 

Text Niina Streng Photo Caroline Petters 

Telling stories 

“We realised we 

shared a love of 

fashion and fantasy 

in storytelling,” say 

Nikki Nye (left) and 

Amy Flurry holding a 

cockatiel mask. 

beyond 

the imagination 

You create paper art through your own 

company called Paper-Cut-Project. 

How did you get started? 

Our original idea was simply to create a great 

window display together, something we were not 

seeing in Atlanta. Nikki, working with paper in her 

own art since college, already knew the material 

well, and we decided that our signature would be 

to make three-dimensional sculptures of paper 

that carried the styling concepts. We debuted 

our first window installation in January 2010, 

and Hermès reached out to us already a month 

later. Work opportunities have been presenting 

themselves to us since! Today, we create art 

for window installations, fashion runways, 

catalogues and advertising campaigns. 

What is it in paper that intrigues you? 

Unlike other materials, paper has an amazing 

ability to retain shapes. Using glue, water or 

other means, we are able to reach end results far 

beyond flat-cut paper surfaces. 

To date, we have exclusively worked with 

Bristol papers: heavy, uncoated paperboards 

which are often used in painting, drawing or the 

production of postcards. But I imagine we will 

expand our range of raw materials in the near 

future, just as we previously branched out from 

white and have introduced some black pieces 

into the collection. 

Where did the inspiration for paper wigs come 

from? 

Wigs are small, contained pieces that, as a group, 

make a serious statement. Hairstyles are often 

quite artful and cool to study. Paper wigs solved a 

dilemma for many stores, too: how to cover a bald 

mannequin head without making it look ridiculous 

or cheap. 

Are your wigs comfortable enough to be worn 

by people? 

All parts are well sealed, and the wigs are 

certainly meant to be worn! Models have walked 

down runways and hosts have greeted guests 

at lavish fêtes wearing them. For mannequin 

displays, we are able to custom the fit for various 

head sizes. All in all, our wigs are quite functional, 

whether as large pieces or smaller accessories. 

Paper wigs is not all you do. What else have 

you done? 

We can make whatever we are able to imagine 

and sketch! We have made crowns, cuffs, capes, 

tutus and masks, for example. In the future, we 

hope to create a jewelry line in paper: items would 

be worn once and then put on display as pieces 

of sculpture! 

Are all your pieces unique? 

Yes, they are all one of a kind. We may make 

something twice, like an owl mask, but it will be 

styled differently and have a slightly different look. 

Due to the simple fact that each piece is cut by 

hand by Nikki and me, they will always be unique! 

Any advice for people interested in working 

with paper design? 

You must experiment and play with the material 

to discover the variety of ways paper can be 

manipulated. Oh, and always work with a sharp 

blade! 

paper-cut-project.com 



A beginner’s 

guide to mFC 

Text Eeva Taimisto Photos Shutterstock 

Exciting 

possibilities 

Micro Fibrillated 

Cellulose opens 

up completely 

new applications 

for wood fi bre. 

Think you know pulp inside out? Prepare to rethink your 

preconceptions. 

until recently, pulp and innovation 

were words words rarely seen seen in the 

same sentence. Pulp producers 

were constantly criticised for for their their 

lack of creativity, and few people 

would have predicted this to change. Behind the 

curtains, however, research and development 

was going on, which came as 

a surprise to many when 

Stora Enso announced 

a pre-commercial 

production plant 

investment into an 

innovation called Micro 

Fibrillated Cellulose (MFC) in 2011. 

To fi gure out what the innovation was all 

about, one had to make an effort. There was 

talk of revolutionary new opportunities, but few 

concrete examples of what those would be. 

The complex vocabulary surrounding things – 

nanotechno logies, micro fi brils – didn’t help much. 

To get to the bottom of this, we talked to two 

MFC pioneers, Stora Enso’s Vice President of 

Biorefi nery Mikael Hannus and 

Jan Lif, Head 

of R&D and Innovation at Stora Enso Renewable 

Packaging. The pilot-scale production of MFC 

started in late 2011 at Stora Enso’s Imatra Mills in 

Finland. 

Introducing fi brils 

To understand what Micro Fibrillated Cellulose is 

all about, you have to start with the basics. “First 

you will need to know what a a fi bre is,” says Lif, 

who knows the development process behind the 

innovation. “When making MFC, cellulose fi bres 

are disintegrated into their their components, fi brils,” 

Lif says. “The fi fi brils are very small and invisible 

to the the naked eye. Whereas a cellulose fi bre is is 1–3 

mm long, the the length length of a a fi bril ranges from a few few 

to several hundred micrometres,” he explains. 

“By processing fi bres into these these tiny fi fi brils, we 

get get MFC.” 

Is this a nanotechnology product then? 

“No,” answers Lif. Lif. “Not according according to the the 

common defi nition. Micro is a length scale 

1 000 times larger than nano. Fibrils are the 

natural micro-sized components of fi bres.” The 

innovation, however, is based on nanotechnology. 

“MFC was discovered as a by-product during 

research on nanotechnology,” says Lif. “So yes, 

you could say that we have nanotechnology to 

thank for this.” 

MFC, then, is made of wood pulp by disintegrating 

fi bres into their micro-sized building 

blocks, fi brils. But what is so special about the 

product? What are the properties of MFC that 

differentiates it from traditional pulp? 

“MFC has similar properties to traditional 

pulp – and more besides,” says Lif. He shows 

a photograph of the product. Compared to 

traditional pulp which is white and resembles 

snow, MFC is transparent and looks like gel. 

“It’s a great material that comes with a variety 

of possible uses,” Lif says. “It is currently being 

tested in some of our packaging and media 

products, and in the future it has the potential 

to be used in a variety of entirely new products. 

MFC can also be used as a substitute for nonrenewable 

materials such as plastics, metals and 

chemicals. For Stora Enso it creates a range of 

new opportunities.” 

Revolution in a milk carton? 

Some of those new possibilities are now being 

realised at Stora Enso. “With “With MFC, you can make 

a a more durable, durable, lighter, lighter, high-quality packaging 

product out of less raw material,” says Lif. Lif. 

“It makes packaging solutions more effi cient 

materially.” 

Material effi ciency means the degree to which 

one is capable of producing a given amount of 

product out of a a given amount of raw material. 

According to the European European Commission and the 

OECD, resource effi ciency is crucial in a world 

with with a growing growing population population and restricted material material 

resources. For a a company like Stora Enso, it 

also also brings signifi cant cant cost cost savings. “We save save in 

raw materials, as as less is needed for us and our 

customers,” customers,” Lif Lif explains. explains. “This is a real sustainability 

improvement, too.” 

In the packaging business, the development 

of material effi ciency has been phenomenal. To 

make make a milk carton in the 1970s, 1970s, you needed 

more than than double the amount of raw material you 

do today. today. Now with with MFC, the resource effi ciency 

of packaging is taking another big leap. “MFC 

has brought along the kind of results that enable 

a step forward in reducing raw material usage 

that would normally take 10 years of research and 

development,” Lif says. 

You could call it a revolution inside a milk 

carton. But if it is a revolution, it’s a silent one. The 

shrinking amount of raw material in the carton 

is unnoticeable for consumers. “If you take a 



MFC-based carton and tear it up, you cannot see 

a difference,” Jan Lif says. “This is very important. 

You are getting more with less, but it does not 

compromise the quality – it only enhances it.” 

The enhanced properties that MFC brings 

to packaging are numerous. “You could, for 

instance, improve the mechanical properties of 

packages such as grip stiffness,” Lif explains. “It 

means that the package deforms less when held 

in your hands. For our customers, MFC is a great 

tool in our toolbox when we look for the best ways 

to enhance their product and their business.” 

Rubber tyres and muffi ns 

In addition to its packaging potential, MFC has 

brought along other completely new opportunities. 

For Stora Enso, the new applications of 

MFC are not a future fantasy, but part of the 

company’s business as we speak. 

Jan Lif and Mikael Hannus are reluctant to 

talk about ongoing projects, but admit that they 

do exist and are top secret. “We are still in the 

beginning of our journey, but there are segments 

that are highly interesting for MFC,” says 

Hannus, who has worked with the research and 

development of this innovation since Stora Enso 

initiated it. 

“Those include speciality chemicals and applications 

where where you need to modify the viscosity 

of a fl uid. Rubber products are also interesting, 

especially the tire tire industry, where you could 

reduce the weight of products using MFC.” 

Replacing non-renewable materials 

and reducing the use of chemicals 

and synthetic material consumption 

is another big opportunity. One 

natural possibility would be to use MFC 

as a renewable coating material in food 

packaging. “It could also be used to replace 

or reduce the use of plastics, for instance in 

Are there any risks? 

Micro Fibrillated Cellulose (MFC) is produced by 

processing cellulose fi bres into fi brils, the micro-sized 

natural building blocks of a wood fi bre. 

There are health and environmental concerns related 

to products made using nanotechnology. Scientists 

have found that in certain contexts, nanoparticles can 

penetrate the skin and lungs and cause damage to 

health. These risks do not apply to products made with 

plastic bags, or of chemicals in paints,” says 

Hannus. “MFC would also be a good material for 

products that need to be light and stiff, such as 

sports equipment.” 

Some possible applications are way beyond 

the traditional range of fi bre-based products. 

“You could add it in bakery products, such as 

breads or muffi ns to add fl uffi ness, and to keep 

the product moist,” Hannus adds. “Or the product 

could be used in some other industrial areas 

which we still have not even thought of.” 

It sounds like MFC could be used almost 

anywhere. “We do not want to limit ourselves 

at this stage,” Hannus insists. “We are not 

saying where it can’t be used. You need to be 

open-minded when you have a material this 

versatile.” Lif agrees: “It is of course a different 

thing to consider what will actually be realised 

and in what time frame. Some MFC-based 

products will reach the market faster than 

others.” 

It’s a customer call 

With MFC, Stora Enso is taking brave steps 

towards what may become transformative for 

their business. Instead of waiting, the Group is 

embracing all the possibilities of this innovation, 

with its cost-saving and environmental benefi ts. 

“That is all true,” says Jan Lif. “But we still have 

a long way to go. The important thing now is to 

focus our research and development effort on 

products that will create value both for us and for 

our customers.” 

Mikael Hannus agrees. “Our customers are the 

ones to decide whether this is a success or not. 

We are not here to develop products for their own 

sake. We are here to make products that make 

a difference to our customers as well as to the 

planet. When our customers are happy, then we 

have succeeded.” 

micro materials, as the particles are processed on a 

scale 1 000 times bigger than that of nano. In some 

cases, the thickness of a microfi bril may be less than one 

micrometre, but, even then, the length of the fi brils are in 

the micrometre range. 

MFC and its applications are an object of continuous 

and open research. Part of this research, as well as the 

product development that follows, is to fi nd and mitigate 

all possible risks related to its future applications. So far, 

there are no indications of any health and safety risks 

related to MFC. 

Rewind What has happened since Rethink 2010? 

Bomb clearance work continues 

During the Vietnam War, more than two million 

tonnes of bombs were dropped over Laos. Many 

of those bombs did not explode, making the 

environment dangerous even today. In Rethink 

2010, Stora Enso described the work it is doing 

in Laos – clearing the land of unexploded bombs 

to plant eucalyptus, while also reserving some of 

the newly safe land for the locals’ rice fi elds. This 

worthy initiative continued in 2011. 

The number of families who plant their rice 

between Stora Enso’s plantations has increased 

from 162 to over 300 during 2011. Interest for 

co-operation with Stora Enso has also grown as 

villagers have noticed the new planting model 

produces higher rice yields and thereby puts 

more food on the table. In the long run, this 

more effi cient planting model can also improve 

children’s chances of attending school, as 

parents are no longer as dependent on their 

Food to the table 

Stora Enso has 

cleared close to 

800 hectares in 

Laos, providing safe 

ground for both tree 

plantations and rice 

cultivation. 

PeTrI ArTTurI AsIkAInen 

children to help out in the household or to search 

for food in the forest. 

Stora Enso has planted more than 400 

hectares of eucalyptus during 2011 and now 

its plantation totals 800 hectares. It has also 

cleared the land actively. “During the year, over 

200 unexploded ordnances, ranging from cluster 

bombs the size of a tennis ball to large bombs 

weighing 250 kilogrammes or more, have been 

found and disposed of. There have been no 

accidents on the cleared land, but unfortunately 

two fatal accidents occurred in neighbouring 

villages where we are not operating. It really 

shows that the work we do here is needed,” 

says Stora Enso’s sustainability expert Helena 

Axelsson. 

storaenso.com/rethink 

youtube.com/storaenso 



Leadership 3.0 

The world is changing faster than ever before. To be on top, companies need 

to deliver in the short term while preparing themselves for the future. This is not 

easy but represents a challenge that all leaders must face. 

Text Päivi Kauhanen Photo Juha Rahkonen and IMD 

Pathfinders 

Turning challenges 

into exciting business 

opportunities. 

“ 

eadership is what prepares 

L 

us for 

the future. It not only can make a 

difference, it must and does make a 

difference,” says Professor Thomas 

Malnight of IMD Business School. 

According to Malnight, who 

is also the Director of Stora Enso’s Pathfinder 

Leadership programme, there are two types 

of companies today – those who are trying to 

succeed by holding on to the past, and those who 

are the future believers. 

“One big issue we often face in IMD while 

working with companies and leaders around 

the world is how to help them to move beyond 

traditional ways of working, traditional definitions 

of products and markets, traditional ways of 

managing people and traditional definitions of 

success. On the one hand, there is a natural 

resistance to change, and on the other, 

excitement at the prospect of learning and 

change. But there is no substitute for strong 

leadership in the world in which we live and 

operate today,” Malnight says. 

Pathfinders challenge 

Stora Enso 

For Stora Enso, there is no question about 

leadership being at the top of the agenda. 

“We in Stora Enso have promised to challenge 

and renew everything we do, and we are far from 

done. If Rethink should be something that is really 

effectively changing the way we ultimately act 

and the way our customers see us, then we really 

need to demonstrate leadership,” CEO Jouko 

Karvinen emphasises. 

“And this is, for example, why I believe the 

Pathfinders – a diverse group compiled last 

autumn, consisting of 12 colleagues from 

around the world, with different professional 

backgrounds – can make a real difference. I have 

asked the Pathfinders to be direct, constructive 

and brave, and to challenge everyone 

and everything including myself, the Group 

Executive Team (GET) and of course each 

other! Questioning old ways of doing things and 

finding new solutions to please our customers, 

shareholders and employees – that is the journey 

the Pathfinders and the Group are now on,” says 

Karvinen. 

Life in a VUCA world 

“Today, strong short-term pressures and 

expectations to deliver results are clearly present. 

But we are also living in a VUCA world – in a world 

where the global environment is increasingly 

Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. 

This environment challenges businesses and their 

leaders to fundamentally and continually rethink 

what will be successful in the future,” Thomas 

Malnight describes. 

According to Malnight, nothing remains as it 

was. Success formulas that have worked in the 

past are being commoditised, and innovation 

is rapidly emerging from an expanding array of 

global players. Thus while there are short-term 

challenges, there is also a strong and growing 


“Leadership helps the company to move 

forward by creating new businesses, 

opportunities and capabilities that did not 

exist in the past.” 

Thomas Malnight, IMD Business School 

ImD 


need to prepare for the future, addressing the 

long-term challenges and opportunities that face 

all businesses. 

A trendsetter for the future 

As real life so often shows us, leadership is 

not easy, and there are no proven formulas 

for success. It is important to make sure that 

leadership at different levels and across the 

organisation is aligned on a future-oriented path. 

“Let’s not forget the reasons why leadership 

is important. Leadership is the strongest 

individual driver for performance and culture. 

It may sound like a phrase you can find in any 

book on leadership or management, but it is 

really true. Leadership does drive performance 

and culture, in good times and in bad,” says 

Lars Häggström, Stora Enso’s head of Human 

Resources. 

So what is expected from a leader in 

Stora Enso? 

“After spending several days with the Group 

Executive Team, discussing and agreeing to 

the expectations on leaders in Stora Enso, we 

agreed upon the behaviour we believe, given our 

unique challenges and opportunities, will best 

drive performance and help us to create the 

desired company culture. These five leadership 

themes are Customer needs, Business acumen, 

Do what’s right, Inspire and motivate and 

People management. In addition to this, we 

also concluded that members of the GET must 

themselves act as role models in turning these 

words into action. Two concrete examples are the 

360° assessment that we ran in the beginning of 

2011, and the decision to launch the Pathfinders 

Programme,” Häggström says. 

Better than you 

Jouko Karvinen is very clear about the one thing 

he considers to be most important for a leader 

in Stora Enso – the ability to hire people that are 

better than yourself. 

“To win you need people who are better than 

you. A scary thought perhaps but this is just 

so important. This is also how I test my own 

leadership. I evaluate my team based on the 

people they are able to hire, retain and develop.” 

According to Karvinen, good leaders ask more 

questions than they give answers. 

“I always ask for the impossible and my people 

often say that I am very demanding. But I also 

thank and recognise people for accomplishing 

what’s almost impossible. And that is something I 

also require from my whole team.” 

With high respect to his whole team Karvinen 

also sees several areas where to improve. 

“To be honest, we have been pretty bad at 

taking risks with people. And playing too safe 

when hiring and promoting people. One more 

important characteristic of a strong leader is 

the capability to build a team with different 

backgrounds, creating diversity of thought. We 

need young talents and experienced senior staff 

from all around the world to be able to rethink the 

way we work.” 

“We also need to create an organisation that 

develops talent, making sure we always have 

the option to hire from within as we staff more 

senior positions. It doesn’t mean that we always 

do, but we should always have the option,” Lars 

Häggström continues. “Why? Because it is often 

the best alternative, and because we want people 

to know that Stora Enso is a company where you 

can develop.” 

Leadership 

New paths ahead 

Text Hanne Karrinaho Photos Peter Knutson 

need for change. Empower people. 

Courage. Agility. Is there another 

revolution about to begin? Well, sort 

of. These words came often up when 

three of the Pathfinders shared their ideas about 

the future direction of Stora Enso. 

”A Pathfinder needs to have the guts to 

challenge top management,” states Elina Gerdt. 

“We need to change quite dramatically and move 

into new areas in order to grow. As Pathfinders, 

we have the possibility to help drive that change,” 

Duncan Mayes continues. 

The Pathfinders will operate as a shadow 

cabinet, making exciting, innovative and thoughtprovoking 

recommendations to the Group 

Executive Team by focusing on two specific 

challenges: innovation and global responsibility. 

Bubbling with ideas 

The Pathfinders have no shortage of ideas on 

Stora Enso’s future direction. They see the risk of 

being too tied to heavy assets. “Agility becomes 

more important in the global economy. Now it is 

time to change the company so that we can make 

more rapid actions according to changes in the 

business environment,” Mayes says. 

More synergies could be found in sales. 

“One of our key assets is that we have a global 

sales set-up. But are we making full use of it?” 

asks Louie Wang. “We are often too focused 

on current production. We need to listen more 

to customers and consumers and change from 

a product model to a truly consumer-oriented 

company.” 

“The breadth of our portfolio should be 

elaborated upon. We could easily approach our 

customers with a huge variety of solutions, from 

energy production through wood and paper 

products to the packaging and even display 

of the products,” Mayes says. “Another area 

where Stora Enso could do much better is using 

synergies more efficiently in, for instance, R&D 

and innovation. When you share ideas within 

the company, you get new thinking from a wider 

group of people who understand the business 

from different angles,” he continues. 

The Pathfinders started their six-month 

journey in October 2011 by studying some of the 

world’s most accomplished companies. Even 

though Elina Gerdt, Duncan Mayes and Louie 

Wang found several areas of improvement for 

Stora Enso, they also learned that we have many 

strengths. 

“Diversity of culture and highly competent 

people are Stora Enso’s strong points,” says 

Mayes. “And we have a strong service offering. 

Our customers choose us for our strong technical 

knowledge.” 

Sustainability and value chain thinking are 

also strongly present in our organisation. “We 

have been looking at our processes critically for a 

long time. The question is: how do we continue to 

differentiate in that area?” Gerdt notes. 

Great expectations 

One goal of the programme is to help the Group 

Executive Team truly rethink their notions of 

how the company works. Another is to give the 

Pathfinders the opportunity to develop and 

realise their potential. 

“A great leader needs a great vision. Many 

of our leaders can fix even the most difficult of 

problems. What we often lack, though, is the 

courage to grow, to think differently,” says Wang. 

After the programme’s results have been 

analysed, Stora Enso will continue its out-of-thebox 

thinking by trying to find new and innovative 

solutions in leadership development. And who 

knows, perhaps there will be a second generation 

of Pathfinders. 

“I think we’ve been offered a unique 

opportunity to learn here, deepening our understanding 

of the challenges around us. But it’s 

not only the Pathfinders who need to see things 

differently – we all do,” Elina Gerdt concludes. 

Pathfinders Programme 

● Innovative leadership development 

programme 

● More than 150 employees applied 

through a Group-wide open process 

● 12 participants from Finland, 

Sweden, UK, Poland, China and Brazil 

● Programme run in partnership with 

IMD Business School in Lausanne, 

Switzerland 

Empowering people 

“With a good leader 

people aren’t afraid to 

make mistakes,” says 

Duncan Mayes, SVP, 

Strategy and Innovation 

in Building and Living. 

Need for change 

“Most people aren’t 

afraid of change 

anymore. You can feel 

the change in spirit,” 

says Tax manager 

Elina Gerdt. 

Expanding the view 

“I see Rethink as the 

rebirth of Stora Enso, 

and this programme 

gives us time to really 

rethink,” says Louie 

Wang, Managing 

Director in China Sales. 


Leadership 

Building the backbone of leadership 

We strive to create win-win situations by 

constantly looking for new opportunities 

to co-operate with and create value for 

our long-term customers. Our delivery 

performance is key – when we deliver the right quality and 

right volumes at the right time, the 

customer will choose to work with 

us again. 

Our several production sites add 

flexibility to our offering. We can 

deliver reliably at short notice, which 

enables our customers to operate 

with lower stock levels, supporting 

their working capital management. Further alignment of our 

processes – production, quality, sales – with those of our 

partners is an example of our continual efforts to rethink 

matters for the better. 

The starting point for motivating people has been 

tough at Imatra Mills lately. During the past 

three years, two machines have been shut down 

and almost a third of the staff has been made 

redundant. 

Everyone at the mill must have a realistic picture of the 

mill’s future possibilities. Together, we have found out what 

we can really influence ourselves, 

and we do so. By developing and 

communicating a common story, we 

will make sure that the mill is up and 

running for decades to come. 

A common goal makes people 

commit to their work much more 

than a strategy delivered from 

above. Communication and future aims must arise from 

issues that are important to employees on a personal level, 

for example job security and the impact of one’s own work 

on reaching the common goal. 

Telling a common story requires a lot of time and 

commitment from mill management. The employees must 


Business 

acumen 

How value is created 

Inspire and 

motivate 

Creating the right atmosphere 

We monitor our customers based on how they and their 

customers perform in the market. New players entering this 

industry can offer good profitability in the short term, but 

we do not strive for partnership if there are no convincing 

possibilities of long-term value creation. 

Herbert Jöbstl, Building and Living, 

Austria 

I have 

Customer needs 

Exceeding expectations 

several types of customers, and then there are the 

customers’ customers, all of whom have particular needs: 

merchants, print houses, the customers of the print houses 

and the end-users who read the printed materials. 

We cannot rely only on excellent product quality. We must 

also know our customers’ print processes so they are assured 

have a chance to talk with the leaders and feel that everyone 

is in this together. 

Ari-Pekka Määttänen, Imatra Mills, Finland 

Due to radical changes, our mill 

management has had their hands 

full, and they have not been able to 

communicate all the changes clearly. 

Lately, the challenges have been 

shared openly, and management has 

encouraged us to work towards a better 

tomorrow with a common story. I’ve learned that most 

problems arise from insufficient communication. Aiming at a 

common goal and working together are things that we as an 

organisation must pursue more efficiently. Still, too often we 

run into conflict between different groups. 

Jouni Hakkarainen, Imatra Mills, Finland 

Stora Enso’s five Leadership themes are the result of a thorough rethinking of 

what is important for the company in terms of leadership. They provide clear 

expectations of what is required of the leaders. 

In Latin America, a critical aspect of our projects is our 

impact on the communities around our operations. 

Particularly in Veracel, we are surrounded by 

communities with high poverty levels. When we enter 

such a region, we have an additional responsibility as a 

corporate citizen – we must take the 

enormous impact and benefits we may 

have on the community into account. 

Fulfilling legal requirements is not 

even nearly enough, according to our 

standards. The whole community 

has to benefit from having a major 

that we can help if there is a problem, even one unrelated to 

paper quality. Our customers evaluate us and want to secure 

their business by choosing reliable partners who offer them 

a package which will remain competitive over the course of 

several years. 

In the end, our business is all about people. The most 

important thing is to have daily dialogues with our customers. 

Excellent service means we can solve any problem, even 

before the customer notices that there is one. That’s the way to 

differentiate. 

Heli Ristola, Printing and Reading, Finland 

There are many job opportunities in China, and 

people change jobs very often. It’s quite a 

challenge to keep people on board if they don’t 

see future development 

opportunities. So, we must motivate 

them with remuneration, recognition, 

training and promotion. 

Once we have hired strong 

talents, we develop a training 

programme and appoint a coach 

for each and every one. We also 

encourage and support people to learn more skills based on 

company needs. 

A leader has to set and communicate a clear vision 

and live and breathe with it, as clear, common targets and 

specified individual targets motivate people and make the 

unit work as a whole. We review our targets monthly. If we 

Do what’s 

right 

Pushing and implementing 

our Code of Conduct 

People 

management 

Making people develop and excel 

employer in the region. That’s why we are actively seeking 

more profound projects that could spread the benefits to 

a larger group of people. On a smaller scale, we have, for 

example, found other uses for land besides plantations. In 

addition to forestry, people acquire income from cattle and 

agriculture. 

In Latin America, we operate in a 

very different business environment 

compared with Europe or the USA. I 

believe that Stora Enso has the right 

mindset and that our responsibility 

standards are high on everyone’s 

agenda. This is one of the reasons 

our customers rely on us as an ethical company, but such 

reliability doesn’t come easily. We put extra resources into 

educating our people so that they are aware of the risks 

they put the company in if they do not follow our Code of 

Conduct. Our message is clear: no business opportunity is 

so important that it allows bending the rules. 

Juan Bueno, Biomaterials, Brazil 

haven’t reached them, we make action plans to correct the 

situation. But we also celebrate successes, whenever there 

is good reason to do so. 

The most important thing for a 

leader is to support people and help 

them to grow and succeed. 

Zili Wang, Suzhou Mill, China 


Leadership 

Leadership will not improve without concrete actions. In Stora Enso, learning on 

the job, feedback and coaching and training programmes are the three major 

priorities. Gathering experience from working in different countries and functions 

plays an essential role in developing new leaders and increases international 

business awareness. Research shows that 70% of learning takes places on the job. 

The way forward 

JennI-JusTIInA nIemI 

Malin Bendz 

Renewable Packaging 

JuHA rAHkonen 

Per Bülund 

Karlstad Research 

Centre 


my background is in human resources. I 

started my career at Stora Enso working 

with HR development, later moving to 

the position of HR Manager in Sweden. 

My next career move was to work in a new 

market. I got the job as HR Director of Stora Enso 

Latin America at a time when the company’s 

operations were expanding in that area. My four 

years in Brazil were fantastic – by far the most 

challenging but also the most rewarding I’ve ever 

experienced. 

Upon returning from Brazil, I was determined 

to increase my business understanding. I first 

got a job in Purchasing, where I supported 

the function’s transformation process. 

Currently I work in the Renewable Packaging 

Business Area developing and implementing 

our customer-driven quality system. This is a 

During my career, I have worked in New 

Zealand, South Africa, Indonesia and 

China. My responsibilities have included 

process development, project management and 

research and development. Now I’m based in 

Sweden, but I travel extensively in Asia and Latin 

America. 

A multi-cultural background is a prerequisite 

for my current job, as members of my team 

come from a variety of countries including 

China, Canada, Australia, Finland, Sweden and 

France. Clear and precise communication is the 

key when leading this kind of team, as people 

are often speaking in a non-native language. 

It’s important to accept that you cannot change 

people’s cultural heritage, but at the same time 

you should not let cultural differences override a 

common goal. The solution is to find a common 

golden opportunity for me to learn more about 

customers and strategic marketing. 

My experience has given me the ability to 

view things from different perspectives – I have 

a larger set of tools to use in my current job. But 

my most important finding is that the way we 

communicate and interact affects the outcome 

of any project, especially when you have stakeholders 

from different countries. Listening more 

and solving things together is key to collaborative 

success. 

My view is that Stora Enso is very supportive 

of learning on the job. However, you have to take 

the initiative and to show your willingness and 

commitment to learn new things. And you have 

to show results, proving that you are worth the 

investment. 

denominator and to understand how people can 

best contribute as part of a team. 

Stora Enso is still a very Eurocentric company, 

but the emphasis is moving to Asia and Latin 

America. As many of the international jobs are 

projects, it is not easy to find employees willing to 

leave their permanent jobs for a couple of years 

without knowing what is waiting for them when 

they return. For my current project, I had to recruit 

outside the company. This is a challenge Stora 

Enso must address if we want to include the best 

people in new development projects. 

Column 

more than words 

sTorA enso 

Lars Häggström 

Stora Enso’s Head of 

Group HR 

Having agreed what is expected from a 

leader at Stora Enso, how do you make sure 

that this becomes something more than just a 

set of nice words? It is clear that improvements 

in giving, receiving and acting upon feedback 

are key components of the answer. By giving 

feedback, we want to increase our leaders’ selfawareness 

while giving them a chance to further 

improve. It is simply impossible to be a good 

leader without knowing how you are perceived 

by your peers and superiors, and without 

continually trying to develop. Consequently we 

have developed a 360° feedback tool based upon 

our five leadership themes. As leadership starts 

from the top, Stora Enso’s Group Executive Team 

(GET) was the first group to use the tool, during 

which our CEO, group-level peers and direct 

reports provided feedback based on a set of 

predefined questions, all linked to those themes. 

This was not the first time I took part in a 

360° survey, but this time I really got some 

hands-on feedback to act upon. Guided by 

the survey results and a follow-up meeting 

with my coach, I decided to focus my personal 

development on Customer needs and People 

management. It was obvious from the feedback 

that Customer needs are an area in which I 

need to improve to become a better partner to 

people in business line positions. Everything 

we do starts with the customer, and unless I 

am able to understand market dynamics, the 

needs of current and future customers and how 

we cooperate to meet those needs, I simply will 

not be able to provide good advice or focus on 

what will ultimately make this company more 

successful. Doing so requires me to spend more 

time with customers and with colleagues working 

in customer-facing positions, something I will 

make happen in 2012 via customer visits and 

meetings with sales people. 

I 

also chose to focus on People management 

– not necessarily because this was a major 

weakness of mine, but rather because I consider 

this to be an area where I, as head of Human 

Resources for Stora Enso, should simply aim for 

the very best. In particular, I aim to get better at 

delegation, as I’m sometimes perceived as trying 

to do too much by myself. This feature hampers 

both me and my team, as I deprive them of the 

opportunity to grow via challenging assignments. 

Additionally, I will focus on getting better at giving 

feedback, as I sometimes spot opportunities 

to give praise or constructive criticism, but 

simply fail to grab them. I owe so much to those 

who have had the guts and ability to give me 

feedback, both positive and negative, whereas I 

often simply have to “pass it on” to others. 

Am I able to turn my personal feedback and 

plans into concrete actions? That will be 

something to learn later in the year, when I intend 

to take the 360° feedback survey once again. 



The likelihood of you never having held an Elopak carton is quite small: in 2010, 

more than 12 billion cartons were sold worldwide. But how can you reach out 

with healthy products to young and thirsty consumers? Well, in Elopak’s case, 

the Polish ‘Perfect Milk at School’ programme has been a way to ensure that 

pupils receive fresh milk – in a sustainable package. 

Text Jonas Nordlund Photos Elopak 

milk 

power! 

Across the globe, school milk is seen 

as a positive asset to children’s daily 

diet. Milk and dairy products are the 

best ways of boosting calcium intake, 

which is good for the teeth, the skeleton and for 

avoiding the risk of developing osteoporosis later 

in life. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture 

Organisation confirms this, revealing that more 

than 50% of member countries have national 

nutritional guidelines specifying recommended 

daily levels of milk consumption for children. 

“I believe school milk has the potential to 

bring long-term advantages. Establishing milk 

drinking in those early years can help establish an 

important habit that will be taken into adulthood 

and will stay with that person throughout their 

life,” says Geoff Platt, Editor of Dairy Innovation 

magazine. 

In the Nordic countries, schools serve their 

pupils lunch with milk free of charge but in most of 

the schools around the world the lunch and milk on 

display costs – some pupils drink it, some do not. 

The first school milk pilot projects to boost 

children’s growing milk consumption in Poland 

were realised in 1996 in co-operation with three 

dairies and without any external financial support. 

Elopak was the first private company to engage 

in the programme that would enable pupils a daily 

milk portion at school – in a fibre-based carton 

package. 

In 2000, the ‘Milk for Schools, Milk for Health’ 

Foundation was established, bringing together 

a network of specialists from the nutritional and 

technological fields to support Elopak in its school 

milk activities. Since EU support for school projects 

was introduced in 2004, more and more dairy 

co-operatives have decided to get involved in the 

Polish state initiatives. Today, with a total of 15 

dairies manufacturing school dairy products across 

Poland, it’s a sector that’s expanding at a pace. 

“In the very beginning in 1996, gaining 

acceptance for the product was very hard. The 

main problem was collecting money for milk. 

Elopak organised its first deliveries of school 


milk in co-operation with three dairies a long 

time before Poland joined the EU. Yet, with the 

introduction of state aid in 2007, sales doubled 

overnight as white milk became free of charge for 

primary school pupils,” says Grzegorz Dąbrowski 

from Elopak Poland. 

Perfect Milk, perfect cartons 

Today’s products are distributed to schools 

within the ‘Perfect Milk at School’ programme, 

which encourages pupils to increase their 

intake of natural protein, calcium and vitamins 

by consuming fresh and natural dairy products 

during their school day. The programme is 

supported by the Polish State, by the EU and 

through the Milk Promotion Fund. Currently, 

state aid enables natural white milk to be made 

available free of charge to primary school pupils 

for up to three days each week. 

There are approximately 2 800 schools 

serviced by supply partners and more than 700 

to which dairies deliver milk directly. The milk 

products are delivered to schools on pallets 

between two and five times per week. Because it 


Daily milk 

In total, almost 

600 000 Polish pupils 

drink milk in Elopak’s 

cartons. 

is fresh milk, it must be delivered more frequently 

than long life milk, for example. 

In total, almost 600 000 Polish pupils drink milk 

in Elopak’s cartons, and they consume more than 

50 million cartons annually. The gable-top carton 

resonates strongly with consumers of fresh 

products in Poland. 

Elopak Poland worked closely with its 

customers to develop a product that would be 

as natural and healthy as possible for schools. 

The project team decided upon low-lactose and 

low-fat milk, and the product was introduced in 

three flavours – peach, banana and strawberry – 

to five dairies. 

Strong relationship with 

stakeholders 

Product innovation and development is 

important, particularly considering the highly 

competitive market. In addition, prices are falling, 

which increases pressure to reduce production 

costs. Players must be more innovative, 

more efficient and faster in order to meet this 

competition. 

Elopak works closely with research 

institutes, universities and specialist suppliers to 

supplement their own technical resources. 

“We believe in strong relationships with our 

stakeholders. Working closely with our customers 

and suppliers is important to us. We want to grow 

together with our suppliers as business partners, 

and Stora Enso clearly has a role there, being 

one of our main packaging materials suppliers,” 

says Tom H. Egenes, Chief Technology Officer at 

Elopak. “We have great respect for Stora Enso’s 

technical capacity and know-how. Stora Enso 

has highly skilled employees. Through our close 

dialogue we can explain our needs better and, in 

the end, give our customers and their customers 

a better product experience.” 

Back to Poland’s upcoming generations. 

Besides the nutritional advantages, why should 

the country’s school children choose to drink 

milk, and especially from carton packages? 

“Made mainly of fibre, the package is well 

recognised as being ecological and recyclable. 

The beverage carton is by far the most environmentally 

friendly beverage package on the 

market. I also know we share this conviction with 

Stora Enso,” concludes Tom H. Egenes. 

Stora Enso is the leading global supplier of 

fibre-based materials for the packaging of food 

and non-food liquids. Pure primary fibre is the 

raw material for all Stora Enso liquid packaging 

boards, with the popular Natura board in the 

forefront. 

Gallup We asked people around the world about their new approaches. 

What was your way of rethinking during 2011? 

“The insurance company 

I work for is going through 

restructuring, and soon I may 

be out of work. For the first 

time in my life, I have been 

thinking about setting up my 

own business. My company 

would refurbish old things 

such as furniture as well as 

provide help with arranging 

parties. I am quite excited 

about the idea!” 

María Lucía Luna 

Sales Manager, Barcelona, 

Spain 

LukAs PeArsALL 

“I went through a breast 

cancer operation last year, and 

that has made me rethink a lot 

of things, both personally and 

professionally. There is not 

always a reason for bad things 

to happen – there is not always 

somebody to blame. What 

matters is how you respond to 

things. For me, year 2011 has 

been a new start.” 

Patricia Sirvent 

Assistant, Stora Enso 

Barcelona Mill, Spain 

eeVA TAImIsTo sTorA enso 

eeVA TAImIsTo 

“Last year I learned to 

read. I read children’s books. 

Also, I learned to ski. And to 

play a little ice hockey.” 

Samuel Tilli 

Child, Kouvola, Finland 

“My wife, I and our two 

kids have decided to escape 

the cold Belgian winter and 

travel to New Zealand for two 

months. We can afford this trip 

as we have been reasonable 

in our spending for some time 

now. In New Zealand, we will 

rent a camper, travel around 

the country and have fun. 

People should also remember 

to enjoy life!” 

Pawel Walentynowicz 

Private entrepreneur, 

Brussels, Belgium 

LukAs PeArsALL 

“An investor was hesitant 

towards using cross-laminated 

timber as his team was used 

to building with concrete. Our 

CLT starter package finally 

convinced them. The package 

includes visiting existing CLT 

projects, training the constructors 

and working closely with 

the project architect. We 

need to help our customers 

challenge conventional ways of 

doing things.” 

Gernot Weiss 

CLT Sales Director, Stora Enso 

Building and Living, Austria 

VILLe PorkoLA 

“After becoming familiar 

with the safety practices 

at Arapoti Mill in Brazil, 

I decided to start each 

day, and each meeting, 

with something related to 

occupational safety. After a 

while, I was thinking about 

possible risks and avoiding 

them also at home and on 

the way to work.” 

Arto Tilli 

Department Engineer, 

Stora Enso Ingerois Board 

Mill, Finland 


Is the future 

wooden? 

New dialogue is opening up around the nature of the modern city and 

the possible development paths it may take in future. We sat down 

with Professor Jarmo Suominen Suominen of Aalto University and Massachusetts 

Massachusetts 

Institute of Technology to redraw redraw the map. 


Text Ian Fenton 

Illustration 

Shutterstock/Miltton 

When asked about his view of the 

trends set to shape the cities 

of the future, Professor Jarmo 

Suominen, somewhat surprisingly, 

looks to the past: “The old model dictated by the 

industrial revolution says: ‘The factory is over 

here. The living quarters are over there. After a 

day’s work in one area, you come home and rest 

for the next day in the other.’ This is no longer the 

only case.” 

He continues: “Nowadays technology and 

the changing nature of labour allow us to work, 

communicate and consume more or less 

anywhere. When you think about the carbon 

emissions generated by thousands of inhabitants 

making their way across the city and back each 

day, not to mention the time wasted, clearly we 

need a different approach.” 

The modern arrondissement 

From his work in research, architecture, and 

as a a consultant for B2B and B2C companies, 

Suominen is sure sure of one one thing: “Customer 

demand across all industries is diversifying, and 

companies are in a position where they need to 

create sustainable strategies to answer these 

heterogeneous requirements.” 


In the modern city environment, he tells us, 

a key property is adaptability, the capacity for 

modifi cation according to its inhabitants’ needs, 

which may change faster than most permanent 

structures can accommodate for. Suominen 

suggests that wood, as an enabler of user-led 

modifi cations that other materials such as steel 

and concrete do not permit, may have a vital part 

to play in this respect. 

For Suominen, the past also yields the solution: 

“I think a vital paradigm for the future city can be 

seen at work in a place like Paris. When you think 

of the way the city is laid out, the arrondissements, 

you essentially have a number of interconnected 

villages. Each one functions as a community in 

and of itself – local businesses and utilities serving 

the local inhabitants’ requirements without any 

need to criss-cross the city on a regular basis.” 

Community is a key word here. This is a 

change of approach that will engage every group 

of stakeholders in the city environment, from 

home owners and tenants, to small business 

and shops, all the way up to building owners, 

construction companies, and city planners, or as 

Suominen prefers to call them, urban designers: 

“But from the user’s point of view it’s irrelevant 

whether the city is new or old, brownfi eld or 

greenfi eld. The user demands are still quite 

similar: a pleasant and usable environment that 

supports wellbeing and an active and sustainable 

lifestyle, while providing locally available services, 

workplaces, and so on.” 

From the ground up 

This drive to use public spaces in new ways has 

already made its mark on our city landscapes, 

leaving some structures and spaces behind. The 

town square, for example, is something of an 

anachronism for Suominen: “This was a public 

space primarily for spreading and exchanging 

information, clearly a function it no longer fulfi ls. 

These days such squares are empty and it falls to 

designers to support the new ways communities 

interact.” 

One such use case is the ubiquitous Starbucks 

café, which serves the function of a meeting 

place in conventional terms but also provides 

an online hub for work and communication. 

Whether seen as an ingenious business model 

or a natural outcrop of the changing needs of our 

society, there has clearly been a shift in the café’s 

role as a public space. Suominen suggests that 

more such changes will become apparent in the 

near future: “In a recent study, small business 

owners were asked about their ideal working 

environment, and it became evident that a great 

deal of the subjects preferred not to work in an 

offi ce, but also frowned on working from home. 

On this evidence, as well as local provisions and 

utilities, future city inhabitants may need more 

fl exible local spaces in which to work as and 

when they see fi t.” 

Suominen believes that our daily routines will 

also have a formative effect on our environment. 

This might involve public spaces combining or 

taking on new functions according to our daily 

activities and paths. What if, for example, your 

daily parcel deliveries could be waiting for you 

when you pick up the kids from day-care? 

“These are just a few examples of how user 

needs can drive urban design.” Suominen 

continues, clearly in his element. “For too long, 

our urban environments have been dictated by 

out-of-date city planning in a very traditional 

and rather restrictive way. This is why I pursue 

and advocate a bottom-to-top approach when 

speaking to modern decision makers.” 

Flexibility is not only necessarily at the city 

planning level, however. The possibilities of 

adapting a structure also offer a key advantage 

to building owners and their clients, and this 

is one of wood’s benefi ts as a raw material 

that these stakeholders are taking notice of. 

Timo Nieminen, SRV’s Senior Executive Vice 

President, Project Development in Finland, picks 

up the theme: 

“The most important driver in the increasing 

use of wood in business buildings is the determination 

of those who commission the projects. 

Exercise Work Dinner party 

mIT meDIALAb, kenT LArson 

Changing places 

Apartment could 

function as a space 

two to three times 

its size thanks to a 

transformable suite 

of furniture, storage, 

exercise gear, lighting, 

offi ce equipment, 

and entertainment 

systems. 

As construction companies, we use the materials 

our customers want us to. Naturally, we try to 

fi nd the relevant projects for different materials, 

and wood, thanks to the fl exibility it provides, is 

certainly becoming more prominent in the Finnish 

construction business.” 

The modern adaptable home 

While business owners may seek more fl exibility 

in retail and offi ce premises, perhaps nowhere is 

the demand for personalisation and uniqueness 

higher than in the home. 

Suominen has given this topic a great deal 

of thought: “People use their home as a means 

of expression. Both the building’s external and 

internal appearance have a role in making the 

inhabitant’s statement to the word, and the two 

can take on very different meanings.” 

The increasing use of the home as a part-time 

workplace has also made an impact on how 

the space is treated. Suominen has witnessed 

something of a sea change: “The modern 

workplace has taken an interesting turn since the 

arrival of the Internet. In the past, people worked 

in the environment provided by their employer. 

Their home, along with certain public spaces, 

was the place for social interaction. Nowadays, 

What 

could a 

wooden city 

mean? 

it’s almost as if the roles have been reserved. 

The home is the place for concentration – the 

worker alone with the computer – while the 

workplace becomes more important for sharing 

ideas and having face-to-face meetings. That’s a 

remarkable shift, when you think about it.” 

Behaviour towards living space can also be 

observed according to lifestyle: “As users’ needs 

change, primarily based on families having 

children and the developments that go along 

with this, space inevitably becomes a concern. 

In Finland, for example, the average rate at which 

people change apartments is something like 6 

and a half years.” 

But looking forward, the huge growth in 

urbanisation and the dominance of the megacity 

may also have an impact on how the home 

is treated. Private living spaces in cities look 

to be getting smaller as the urban population 

increases. So how should we deal with these 

space constraints? Is it really an option to keep 

moving in search of more suitable living quarters? 

As part of his work at MIT, Suominen has 

proposed a multi-faceted solution. He fl ips 

open his laptop to show me an animation of 

the adaptable home of the future. We see a 3D 

layout of what appears to be a lounge, but soon 

movable shelving units are shifting in and out 

44—Rethink Stora Enso—45

of place to let the room take on new functions: 

an office, a dinner party or meeting room table, 

even a space for exercise and dance. “With the 

flexibility granted by movable elements and 

fold-down furniture, the same room can take on a 

great many different roles.” 

Wood simply feels good 

When it comes to flexible raw materials, Suominen 

suggests that wood may have a vital part to play: 

“Wood is a material we instinctively know how to 

deal with, and can take into our own hands more 

easily.” 

Flexibility is far from the only factor that 

informs the general public’s feelings about wood, 

however. SRV’s Timo Nieminen, in his conversations 

with construction customers, has noticed 

that people feel an emotional connection with 

wood: “It isn’t something that can be measured 

necessarily. In terms of a multi-storey construction, 

there are some slight advantages in terms of 

humidity and air circulation, but these shouldn’t 

necessarily make such a big impact. There is a 

more subtle psychological mechanism at work.” 

Suominen confirms the sentiment: “Wood is 

about feeling. To certain societies it might mean 

respecting traditional values and showing your 

commitment to the community. In the States, for 

example, one may see a great deal of houses 

with a wooden façade. What appear to be wood 

constructions are in fact more conventional 

buildings showing a wooden face to the outside 

world. This has to be relevant to any discussion 

of wood as a material part of our daily lives: its 

emotional meaning.” 

What could a wooden city 

mean? 

According to Suominen, adopting an approach 

like that of Helsinki’s forthcoming Wood City 

is a much more complex affair than simply 

selecting a material and pressing play. “You have 

to remember that there is a world of dependencies 

based on currently popular materials like 

steel and concrete. If we see wood as a large 

scale construction material of the future, this 

will necessitate a new breed of architects, 

developers, and many other competences. You 

could also view wood as a branding element 

for rejuvenating the traditional city, especially in 

terms of street-level touch points like boardwalks, 

canopies, and shelters.” 

Nieminen concurs: “Developed elements 

and standards make wood an increasingly 

relevant option for new projects. They require, 

however, a lot of promotional work both on the 


material industry side as well as in the construction 

industry, real estate development, and, of 

course, on the planning side. At the moment, 

these different parties must demonstrate a clear 

will and determination to use wood, in order to 

actually bring these projects to fruition.” 

The appeal is certainly there, however: “If you 

ask someone on the street whether they would 

prefer to live in a wooden building or a concrete 

on,” Suominen assures me, “the most frequent 

answer will be wood. The image of wood as a 

softer, more natural, more green and ultimately 

more pleasant material is certainly dominant.” 

There is indeed hard evidence to validate this 

response, as using wood as a construction 

material for multi-storey buildings does have 

a positive impact on CO2 emissions when 

compared with more traditional solutions. Wood, 

of course, is also a renewable material and, in the 

case of Wood City, is produced nearby. 

More than 1.4 million new apartments are 

built each year in Europe. If these were built 

using wood rather than concrete, consumption 

of natural resources would decrease by 70%, 

manufacturing energy by 40%, and carbon 

dioxide emissions by 50%. Today wood is used in 

only 9% of these buildings. 

In addition to one of the most important 

benefits – rapid construction time – the major 

advantage of using wood and wood-based 

building solutions and concepts is the cost-effective 

construction of impermeable, fire-resistant 

and long-lasting wooden buildings. 

It’s clear, then, that for a wide sample of the 

population, “Wood City” will come to mean 

“sustainable city”. But for Suominen, it will be 

the practical matters that define its success: 

“If Helsinki can take its inhabitants’ changing 

needs into account, and begin treating the city’s 

landscape like a cluster of communities rather 

than a series of blocks, projects like this have a 

lot of potential. After all, a future sustainability 

benchmark has to work well for its inhabitants, 

and what modern city wouldn’t want to boast 

about that?” 

From the user’s point of view 

it is irrelevant whether the city is 

new or old. The user demands 

are still quite similar. 

ILLusTrATIon bY sArC 

Helsinki – Wood City 

Stora Enso is planning a unique wooden urban area, Wood 

City, for the city of Helsinki. The new Wood City quarter, 

including office, hotel and commercial buildings, will be 

realised in co-operation with the construction company SRV 

in the district of Jätkäsaari close to Helsinki’s city centre. Stora 

Enso estimates that it will deliver supporting structures based 

on its wood-based Urban MultiStorey concept for a total of 

20 000 square metres of floor area. 

Building plans based on energy-efficient solutions will be 

sought for the area in an invitation-only international design 

competition announced in February 2012. The goal is to start 

construction at a swift schedule after the competition. The 

first buildings are estimated to be ready in 2014 and the whole 

block by 2016. 

“Our concept, based on CLT elements, is an excellent 

solution for energy-efficient multi-storey construction, and 

particularly for new construction in an urban setting. The 

faster the on-site construction work progresses, the less 

disruption it will cause to the surrounding city life,” says Matti 

Mikkola, Head of Building Solutions, Stora Enso Building and 

Living. 

The Wood City project can be considered a breakthrough 

in the development of a new Finnish urban wood construction 

genre. Stora Enso is also charting new waters in co-operating 

more closely than ever with a developer. 

“Wood City is an excellent opportunity for us and our 

partners to take multi-storey construction to the next level and 

to support the future development of urban wood construction 

and architecture – not just in Finland, but around the 

world,” Mikkola states. “This is the first step, and I believe that 

co-operation within the industry will continue to strengthen. 

This is the path to the future.” 


Passion 

for safety 

Lucinei Damalio heads the 

Arapoti Mill in Brazil, in which 

none of the mill’s workers 

have been absent due to an 

accident in more than four 

years. Building on this brilliant 

track record, Damalio has 

been working since 2011 as a 

Safety Ambassador, sharing 

his knowledge and experience 

with other Stora Enso mills. 

Text Lotta Roitto Photos Lukas Pearsall 


mill manager Lucinei Damalio was 

reached for an interview during his 

fi rst tour in his new role as Safety 

Ambassador. Following this fi rst 

tour of Stora Enso’s paper mills, he has three 

similar trips to come. After two weeks of living 

out of a suitcase and meeting dozens of new 

faces, he is already looking forward to returning 

home to his beloved family, wife Darci and their 

three daughters. But fi rst, he will discuss the 

importance of a safe work environment. 

How does it feel to work as Safety Ambassador 

in Stora Enso? 

I am so proud of this! For me, the best recognition 

in my career of nearly 40 years is that the safety 

programme I have created will be copied to 

several mills around the world. Safety is so close 


Every 

accident is 

too much 

Stora Enso has a goal 

of zero accidents to 

be reached by training 

and new habits, and 

most importantly, with 

an attitude of caring. 

Currently, there are 

significant differences 

between countries 

and units within 

Stora Enso. 

● The goal: By the 

end of 2013, LTA will 

be below 5 (11.0 in 

2011). 

● Arapoti Mill in Brazil 

has Stora Enso’s best 

safety rates – LTA 0 

since 15 October 

2007. 

Lost Time Accident 

(LTA) rate as number 

of accidents per one 

million hours worked. 

Safety first 

“Talk about safety 

at the beginning of 

every meeting. If you 

don’t have time to talk 

about safety with your 

employees, for sure, 

you will have to find 

the time to investigate 

the accidents,” said 

Lucinei Damalio 

during his visit to the 

Anjala Mill in Finland. 


to my heart − it is more important than anything 

else. In the end, it is about life. 

How did you start to pay special attention to 

safety issues? 

Several years ago, I lost a colleague in my area 

of responsibility in a fatal accident. I can never 

forget the pain I felt when I went to tell the sad 

news to his wife and children. It was terrible. I 

promised myself that I will never have to do that 

again and decided to create a safety programme 

to avoid such accidents in the future. 

What lies behind Arapoti Mill’s success in 

safety records? 

In Arapoti, safety is an important part of the daily 

work for each and every one working at the mill. 

The aim of the safety programme we utilise is to 

create safe habits. In all actions, safety has to 

come first. The programme has been running 

here for nine years now, and with excellent 

results. 

The teams start their shifts with a short 

dialogue about possible risks for the day and 

how those can be avoided. Every day, employees 

observe safe and unsafe behaviour, such as 

the incorrect or correct usage of protective 

equipment like helmets, ear protection and 

goggles, and report their observations. All 

employees participate in safety planning and 

also in auditing other teams’ working conditions 

and behaviour annually. One of the key things 

in the programme is training – supervisors are 

responsible for offering enough training to ensure 

safe ways of working. Every new employee will 

get two to three months of training and has to 

pass a test before starting to work independently. 

The guiding idea in our safety programme is 

to involve everybody all the way from planning 

to implementing and auditing: When I hear 

something, I forget. When I see something, I 

remember. But when I do something, I learn! 

Stora Enso is heading towards a zero-accident 

level. How can such an ambitious goal be 

reached? 

The goal is not that ambitious – we all want to 

work in a safe environment, even if creating 

safe habits is hard work. Determination is the 

first step: if you want to do something, you will 

find a way. But if you don’t want to act, you will 

easily find excuses and explanations. As Safety 

Ambassador, I’m touring the mills and sharing 

best practices as well as my own experiences of 

how the goal of zero accidents can be reached. 

Any advice on how to create a safe working 

environment? 

The first thing is that the organisation has to have 

a well-defined safety policy. After that you can 

establish a consistent safety programme and 

create a culture of safety. It’s essential to have 

leaders who support, participate and trust in this 

programme. Safety has to be a value. All in all, 

keep it simple: there is nothing so urgent or so 

important that it cannot be done safely! 

Safety first 

Towards zero accidents 

Hard work with safety issues has paid off at Imatra Mills in Finland: the Lost Time 

Accident rate has gone down by almost 50% over the past three years. Safety is 

more important than anything else. Why? Because it is about life and well-being. 

Text Tommi Parkkinen, Tarja Rahkonen Photos Ari Nakari 

There was a leak in the Tainionkoski 

Mill’s sulphuric acid line. I went to make 

sure that there was no pressure in the 

line and that it was emptied so it could 

be repaired. I was wearing the protective gear 

required by the safety guidelines at the time, 

which meant normal work clothes, a protective 

helmet and safety boots. The drainage valve was 

open and the pumps had been stopped. The 

line appeared to be safe for the maintenance 

personnel. They started their work and loosened 

the bolts just slightly, as per instructions. They 

tapped on the line to confirm that there was no 

pressure in it. 

But there was. I saw spray flying before my 

eyes, and I instinctively turned my back. The 

strong and highly corrosive sulphuric acid soaked 

the back of my work coat and also splashed onto 

my face and neck. I could taste the acid in my 

mouth. I ran to the fire hydrant and my colleagues 

tore off my sulphur-soaked work coat and 

sprayed me with cold water. 

My memory of the incident is very foggy. I 

only remember that for a long time I didn’t dare 

to open my eyes. I was afraid that I had lost my 

sight. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case. I survived 

the accident with surprisingly minor injuries. For 

about two weeks, I had red spots on my face and 

neck where the acid drops had eaten away at my 

skin. 

Today, our safety guidelines are better and 

stricter. Around the pump are containment 

basins, and working inside them requires 

acid-proof protective gear. Since the accident, 

I take work safety much more seriously. It is 

something that must never be forgotten, even 

during really busy times when it’s tempting to just 

get the job done quickly. 

It was an ordinary Friday morning at 

Kaukopää Mill, and I was working on the 

slitter-winder when I felt something hit the 

back of my leg. The core reel, which was 

more than two metres long, had fallen and hit 

my calf. My work day ended there. A colleague 

treated the wound with a first-aid kit and I went to 

see a doctor. I was facing sick leave and had to 

learn how to walk with crutches. 

One month later, I found out that beneath my 

scar there was a bad build-up of bacteria and 

an abscess in the wound. I took antibiotic after 

antibiotic, but the infection refused to go away. At 

its worst, the wound was two centimetres wide and 

the bacteria had eaten away at my muscle, leaving 

a cavity big enough to fit a mobile phone into. 

I had to spray the wound every day, and 

seeing my ravaged leg made me cry. How did 

this happen? For two weeks I went to hospital 

every day to have dead tissue scraped away and 

ointments applied to the wound. Because of the 

injury and the pain, my life was between my home 

and the health-care centre. The nurses did a 

good job of cheering me up when I was down. 

I was on sick leave for four months. It is 

possible that my leg will never fully recover. My 

skin is still not healing properly over the wound 

and an indentation is visible in my leg where the 

bacteria ate through the muscle tissue. Pain still 

radiates through my leg, but keeping physically 

active has lifted my spirits and helped me get 

better. 

I was able to return to performing the same 

tasks I did before the accident. It’s nice to be 

back at work, even though I’m still bothered by 

the pain in my leg. Safety regulations have been 

tightened, and it is now prohibited to store core 

reels in an upright position. Accidents are in the 

details – that’s why I always make sure that I 

follow regulations carefully. 

Tommi Parkkinen 

is Day Supervisor at 

Imatra’s Tainionkoski 

Mill. 

Tarja Rahkonen 

works as Winder 

Operator at Imatra’s 

Kaukopää Mill. 



unique 

recipe 

Text Heli Pessala Photos Lasse Arvidson 

Sharing 

responsibility 

“When developing 

PrimaPress, 

leadership was 

present in an invisible 

yet positive, way,” 

Fredrik Lundström 

and Lars Fabritius 

observe. 

Kvarnsveden Paper Mill in Sweden did not stand idly by as the 

recession hit in 2009. Instead of waiting for a miracle to happen, 

the employees decided to create one themselves. It is called 

PrimaPress. 

“A 

s soon as we picked up signals 

of the upcoming recession, we 

realised we should consider 

rethinking. We are running one 

of the biggest paper machines 

in the world – how can we secure that it will be 

running also in the future?” describes Paper 

Production Technology Manager Lars Fabritius 

the atmosphere at the Kvarnsveden mill in 2009, 

while walking through the enormous paper 

machine PM12 hall. 

PM12, with an annual capacity of some 

400 000 tonnes of uncoated magazine paper, 

was started only in 2005. A machine of this size 

is like an elephant, turning slowly. Changing the 

paper grade produced does not happen in a split 

second. A high demand is required for products 

of such a machine. This is easy to believe when 

standing next to the machine in the hall where 

humidity reaches tropical levels – you barely 

see the other end of the machine more than 300 

metres away. 

The hunt for a sustainable future for the 

mill was kicked-off with a thorough analysis of 

Kvarnsveden Mill’s local, already-existing assets. 

Two strategy workshops in May 2010 helped in 

the creative examination of the mill’s raw material 

flow, existing technology, market development 

and strengths and weaknesses in production. 

After identifying future needs and possibilities, 

the target set for the mill was to find a new 

uncoated magazine paper grade that would also 

serve with its chararecteristics Stora Enso’s 

coated magazine paper customers. 

“We knew that we could achieve this target 

technologically. Now the only question was in 

what detail and how we could achieve it,” says 

Development Engineer Fredrik Lundström of the 

situation at the mill before any trials for the new 

product had been conducted. 

Steadily renewing raw material 

With its 800 employees and four paper machines, 

Kvarnsveden Mill is one of Stora Enso’s largest 

production units. The mill is located in the 

Borlänge community in the heart of Sweden, 

surrounded by the old, thick Dalecarlian forests. 

The spruce needed in the production of newsprint 

and uncoated magazine papers is harvested 

within a radius of 200 kilometres from the mill. 

“We might be located far away from the 

market but we have one of the best raw material 

situations in the world. This together with the 

special technology at the mill formulated the new 

paper concept itself,” explains Fabritius. 

During our conversations about the timeconsuming 

trials, the two experts often burst into 

laughter. It becomes clear the atmosphere at the 

mill is such that existing barriers can be easily 

broken. 

After the workshops, six full-scale trials were 

conducted. The trials were a joint effort at the mill 

with Lundström, a newcomer at PM12, who was 

responsible for planning and organising the trials 

from start to finish. Technical experts together 

with employees from marketing, production 

and laboratory were involved in planning and 

running the trials, each function contributing their 

expertise and deep engagement in specifying the 

exact parameters for the new paper grade. 

“The key to success was that this concept 

was not handed down from above – it was jointly 

created at the mill, with the customers’ needs in 

mind – this is what we think as a team,” explains 

Fabritius. Lundström continues, “The general 

attitude was that this is our shared project and a 

unique chance for everyone to learn something 

new.” 

Serving customers worldwide 

We step into the control room next to PM12. 

Operator Jan Selin shows us the production plan 

for this Tuesday afternoon shift: Great Britain, 

Russia, Australia, Uruguay. 

PM12 is presently running the thinnest 

PrimaPress grade with 51 grammage, serving 

customers worldwide. The final destination for 

these Kvarnsveden paper reels are direct mail 

brochures, lifestyle magazines and other such 

products. 


“We started supplying to our overseas 

customers in summer 2011. But right from 

the start our aim was to serve the global 

marketplace,” explains mill manager Mikko Jokio. 

The markets showed strong interest in the 

product already early on in 2011 – from then on, 

it was only a question of fi nal adjustments to the 

paper production process, of reaching maximum 

effi ciency. After printing trials with select 

customers in Australia, the new uncoated paper 

grade, PrimaPress, was ready for production. 

The new grade provides high brightness and 

gloss combined with excellent printability and 

Together 

PrimaPress was 

born as a common 

effort at Kvarnsveden 

Mill. PM12 in the 

background. 

high opacity – the same characteristics a coated 

paper grade can provide, but with lower costs. 

“It all goes back to cost competitiveness. 

It is not enough that we develop and produce 

excellent products; all development work at the 

mill has to respond to our customers’ needs. 

The products also need to be cost-competitive, 

starting already with the raw material concept. 

PM12 has excellent preconditions for that,” says 

Jokio. 

But what is the secret behind creating a 

paper grade traditionally seen as impossible to 

produce? 

“The mill is full of process and technology 

innovations that have accumulated here over 

the years. They served as a fruitful ground 

for the development of PrimaPress,” reminds 

Jokio. “Usually one has to compromise between 

brightness and gloss – the higher the gloss, the 

lower the brightness. We have achieved a good 

combination of these with the use of special 

production technology. PrimaPress doesn’t 

compromise on brightness, but also maintains 

high gloss.” 

Ambitious growth 

Initial feedback from customers has been very 

positive – particularly thanks to the gloss that 

reaches the levels of coated papers. PrimaPress 

offers excellent runnability and printability for 

customers’ printing processes, enabling the high 

print quality demanded for end products such as 

magazines, journals, catalogues and brochures. 

In addition to its state-of-the-art papermaking 

knowledge and technology, PrimaPress is also 

a perfect fi t in the complete product portfolio of 

Stora Enso’s magazine papers. 

“We are paving the way for the growth of 

the market of uncoated magazine papers. And 

our aim is to take over markets traditionally 

dominated by coated papers,” confi rms Jokio. 

This is not the fi rst time a new uncoated 

magazine paper enters the market with the aim of 

replacing coated magazine papers. However, with 

its excellent specifi cations, PrimaPress will be the 

fi rst true uncoated alternative to coated papers. 

In addition, PrimaPress strengthens the 

operational preconditions of Stora Enso’s 

other uncoated paper machines, at Maxau 

and Langerbrugge in Central Europe. The big 

machine at Kvarnsveden can now concentrate on 

this special grade while the others can focus on 

other uncoated grades. From a customer point 

of view, a broad product portfolio and several 

paper machines also secure reliability in special 

circumstances. 

The new product and its positive reception in 

the markets have also led to further inspiration 

and motivation among employees at the 

Kvarnsveden Mill. 

“The initial feedback received has given further 

boost to and trust in the future at the mill – we 

as a team can manage challenging situations 

and come up with new solutions. This does not 

happen by following papermaking textbooks to 

the letter but by creating a motivating working 

culture and by encouraging fearless breaking of 

existing barriers,” says Jokio. 

PrimaPress 

● Light-weight uncoated magazine paper (LWU) 

● For heatset web offset (HSWO) printing only 

● Four basis weights 51 g/m 2 , 54 g/m 2 , 57 g/m 2 , 60 g/m 2 

Global demand 

Mill manager Mikko 

Jokio takes a look 

at production plans. 

PrimaPress reels are 

produced for journals 

and catalogues 

around the world. 

● Combines high brightness and high gloss with high opacity 

● For high-quality magazines, journals and catalogues requiring 

excellent runnability, printability and print quality from the paper 

used. For example the British Airways infl ight magazine High Life 

is printed on PrimaPress 

● Produced at Kvarnsveden Mill in Sweden 

54—Rethink Stora Enso—55

An ever-greater proportion of the materials found in homes 

will be produced from sustainable wood fi bre. What kinds of 

smart solutions do Stora Enso’s R&D professionals see for 

the future? 

Living in 

the year 2030 

Text Lotta Roitto Illustration Anton Yarkin 

1 

Mailboxes replace supermarkets 

An increasing number of people do their 

shopping online and receive their purchases 

by post. Even very large packages fi t into 

their mailboxes, which are also equipped 

with a refrigerated section for perishable 

foods. Families no longer drive to supermarkets: 

lorries deliver their food purchases 

from logistics centres directly to their home. 

2Window washing is history 

Windows are covered with a smart fi lm 

that darkens when needed and protects the 

home from the heat of the sun. The fi lm is a 

self-cleaning material – window washing has 

been relegated to the history books. 

3Solar energy 

Carbon-sink wood products have 

widely replaced concrete and steel as 

building materials – also in multi-storey 

building construction. The exterior walls of 

houses and buildings built with sustainable 

wood elements are covered with a woodfibre-based 

film that collects solar energy. 

4 Rooftop 

gardens 

Roofs and balconies are efficiently 

used, particularly in densely populated 

cities. Roofs are equipped with rainwater 

collection systems and are used to grow 

plants and vegetables for the inhabitants’ 

private use. 

5 Eco-efficient 

vehicles 

In 2030, small cars run on electricity 

that is increasingly produced using 

renewable sources of energy. Aeroplanes, 

maritime transport and heavy road traffic 

utilise wood-based biofuels widely. For 

short distances, the bicycle with assisting 

electronics is a popular mode of transport. 

The tyres and the clothes store energy from 

the cyclist’s movements. That energy can be 

used, for example, to charge mobile devices.

6 Virtual 

becomes reality 

People strive to avoid unnecessary 

driving, and telecommuting has become 

increasingly common. With the help 

of thin monitors integrated into walls, 

videocalls and virtual negotiations seem 

like face-to-face encounters, and the table 

surface serves as a screen for displaying 

documents, websites and workspaces. 


7 Smart 

paper 

A portable screen that can be printed 

on paper as desired can be folded up and 

carried in one’s pocket. The monitor is 

a low-cost and recyclable smart paper, 

onto which a screen and power source is 

printed. This smart paper can also be used 

as a mobile phone screen and an internet 

browser. Paper screens are also used on 

consumer packages and are printed with 

user instructions and product information in 

the selected language. 

8 The 

diversity of packages 

In packages, materials derived from 

wood fibres have largely replaced plastics. 

As oil reserves have decreased, the price 

of plastic has risen, and cost-effective 

and eco-friendly materials have been 

sought to replace them. Micro Fibrillated 

Cellulose is used to achieve thin and durable 

wood-fibre packages that are also inherently 

impermeable in protecting the aromas of 

food. These biodegradable and recyclable 

packages can also be made transparent. 

9A classic combination – coffee and 

the newspaper 

The traditional newspaper holds its own 

in this energy-efficient era – the carbon 

footprint of a printed newspaper brought 

home corresponds to just two clicks in an 

online paper. 

10 

Packed foods keep well 

Smart and recyclable sensors 

printed on paper are used in food packaging 

to indicate if the food has gone bad. As the 

global population exceeds eight billion, an 

ever-greater proportion of grocery shopping 

includes vegetable-based products, and 

people eat meat only occasionally. The 

global food supply has become increasingly 

sufficient for the world’s population, 

and less food is wasted thanks to good 

packaging. 

11 Do-them-yourself 

It is now possible to print some 

goods for the home, for example toys, 

dinnerware and home electronics, on a 3D 

printer. 

12 

Not rubbish but raw materials 

Domestic waste is rarely brought to 

landfills. Recyclability and recoverability are 

important characteristics of all the materials 

found in homes.

13 

The power of flexible modification 

Bathrooms and kitchens are 

delivered during the construction phase 

as completely finished, fully equipped 

components. The other interior spaces of 

dwellings are built with an eye to allowing 

modification and have no load-bearing 

partition walls. Wood is the favoured 

material for the interiors of homes, not 

just for its eco-friendliness, but also for its 

antibacterial properties. 

14 

Cosmetics from the forest 

Birch bark, spruce knots and other 

wood-based biochemicals are important, 

functional raw materials that have replaced 

oil-based ingredients in cosmetics products. 

15 

Recycled water 

Water is used with careful consideration 

in private homes. Greywater is cleaned 

and recycled in the water purification 

systems found in every home. 

16 

Humidity control in structures 

Built-in sensors in wallpaper 

measure the humidity and room-air quality 

in a building’s structures and indicate when 

limit values are exceeded. Electronics 

printed on the building materials also selfregulate 

the homes’ climate control. 

17 

Light only when needed 

Ceilings are aglow with light and 

adjust themselves automatically according 

to the light coming from outside and the 

presence of the home’s residents. Energy 

efficiency is taken into account in all the 

home’s solutions, and energy consumption 

in private homes is half of what it was in 

2012. 

18 

Wood fibre from head to toe 

Cotton, which requires considerable 

amounts of water and pesticides, is no 

longer used, and clothing in 2030 is manufactured 

from wood-fibre-based materials 

such as viscose. The smart film properties 

of clothing monitor the wearer’s temperature 

and regulate the thermal properties of the 

material as required. 

19 

Wireless energy 

Electricity flows unnoticeably 

through walls and other surfaces, which 

allows lighting and their touch control 

switches to be changed easily when 

redecorating. 

20 

Homes to support living 

Medicine is packaged in smart 

packages that remind the user when to 

take it. Information on its use is transferred 

wirelessly to doctors, who can monitor the 

regularity with which it is taken. 

Some medicine for chronic illnesses is 

administered to the skin by the clothing one 

wears. Medicine-administering clothing helps 

to ensure that diabetics receive a consistent 

amount of insulin throughout the day. 

Sensors installed in the floor send an 

alert if, for example, an elderly inhabitant 

of a 2030 home falls down, and may report 

their pulse to medical care personnel who 

arrive quickly on the scene. 

Single-use and affordable home tests 

have become an important smart paper 

application. They are equipped with sensors 

that can measure, e.g. inflammation levels 

and blood sugar, and send the information 

wirelessly to the health-care centre. 

Voice-guided electronics and large screen 

surfaces assist users with weak vision. 



Phenomenon 

The humpback whale is one of the 

world’s largest mammals. Whales 

living in the Antarctic waters 

migrate, year after year, along the 

same route from the plankton 

fields of the polar areas to give 

birth on the Brazilian coast. 

Wanderer 

of the seas 

Text Eija Hietanen 

Photos Instituto Baleia Jubarte 



Humpback whales are found in all of 

the world’s oceans. Adults range 

in length from 12 to 16 metres and 

weigh, on average, an astounding 

36 000 kilogrammes. As with many 

other whales, females are bigger than males. 

In the 19th century, there were 300 000 

humpback whales in the world’s oceans and 

seas. Since then, they have been hunted to the 

brink of extinction. By the beginning of the 1960s, 

their population had fallen to less than 10 000. 

A whaling moratorium was introduced in 1966. 

Each year, humpback whales living in the 

Antarctic waters migrate to the temperate waters 

off the Brazilian coast to reproduce. 

“Around 9 300 humpback whales swim in 

Brazilian waters every year. The whale population 

has grown approximately 7% a year,” says Milton 

Marcondes, veterinarian and head of research 

at the Brazilian humpback whale research and 

protection institute Instituto Baleia Jubarte. 

Marcondes says that according to biologists’ 

estimates, there was a time when up to 

25 000–30 000 humpback whales swam in the 

Brazilian coastal waters. Since 1987, the Abrolhos 

Marine National Park has protected the whales’ 

breeding grounds, as the species has been under 

the threat of extinction. 

For future generations 

Instituto Baleia Jubarte, a non-profit and 

non-governmental organisation, was established 

in 1996 to develop and financially support the 

research and protection of humpback whales 

and other threatened species. Its key objective 

is to teach local communities to protect the 

environment and to improve the quality of life of 

local people. 

The head of the institute, Márcia Engel, is a 

biologist, who has been involved in research work 

since 1992. She has gained a broad perspective 

on how attitudes towards humpback whales and 

the environment have changed over the past 

twenty years. 

“When we started, the locals were wondering, 

who those whale-photographing lunatics are. The 

children from those days have now grown up. 

Some of them had the institute’s support to study 

at the university and have now joined our staff,” 

Engel recalls. 

Giving birth in tropical waters 

As summer approaches in the Southern 

Hemisphere, humpback whales migrate to colder 

waters to hunt and to build up their fat reserves. 


Phenomenon 

There is a lot of light in the polar area during 

the summer, bringing with it an abundance of 

plankton and krill for the whales to catch in the 

surface waters. 

Like other rorquals, the humpback swims 

through schools of small prey with its mouth 

open, then closes it and pushes its tongue up 

against the palate and presses all the water back 

out through the baleens. The animals in the water 

are trapped on the baleen and swallowed. 

Once they have built up a proper fatty layer, 

humpback whales migrate from their feeding 

grounds in the polar areas toward the Equator to 

mate and give birth. 

“In the winter, there is not much to eat in the 

polar areas, as the nights are long. In addition, 

the weather is very cold and often stormy, so 

conditions are not favourable for giving birth to 

calves. That is why humpback whales migrate to 

calmer tropical waters with a temperature close 

to their body temperature,” Marcondes explains. 

“From the South Atlantic waters, pods of 

humpback whales migrate approximately 4 500 

kilometres to the Brazilian waters in the Abrolhos 

region – following, year after year, more or less 

the same route. The distance there and back is 

almost 10 000 kilometres,” Marcondes says. 

Energy consumption in warm waters is lower, 

which is important when the female whales nurse 

their calves. This they do for at least half a year. 

In tropical waters, the humpback whales can 

also provide their calves with better early-life 

conditions. At birth, the calves weigh two to three 

tonnes and are four to five metres long. They can 

gain 25 kilogrammes a day. A female whale can 

carry a calf and mother a newborn at the same 

time. 

“Some researchers still believe that humpback 

whales consume more energy to maintain their 

body temperature in the polar areas than they 

do during the long migration. Therefore, it makes 

sense for all whales, not just gestating females, 

to migrate in order to save energy,” Marcondes 

points out. 

Veracel involved in whale 

protection 

The Veracel Pulp Mill, an equal joint venture of 

Stora Enso and the Brazilian company Fibria, 

is located in the state of Bahía in northwestern 

Brazil. The eucalyptus pulp produced at the mill 

is first transported 60 kilometres by truck to 

the Belmonte Marine Terminal. From there, it is 

taken along the shallow coastline to the Portocel 

port located 580 kilometres away and then on to 

Stora Enso’s mills in Europe and China. 


The siren 

of the seas 

The humpback whale 

has also been called 

the “siren of the seas,” 

as its song has been 

described as the sound of 

sirens singing. 

“In reality, only the 

males sing, and they do 

it only during their period 

of courtship,” points out 

Milton Marcondes, head of 

research at Instituto Baleia 

Jubarte. “The songs also 

change from year to year 

and differ from one area to 

the next.” 

Humpbacks may sing 

continuously for up to 

24 hours, but typically 

their song lasts less than 

40 minutes. Their song 

consists of howls and 

grunts that vary in pitch. 

Also females and 

calves produce a variety 

of sounds. They are used 

in communicating among 

the whale pod. 



This coastal area between the Belmonte 

Marine Terminal and Portocel, on the coasts of 

Bahía and Espírito Santo, is where humpbacks 

breed. Co-operation with Instituto Baleia Jubarte 

was therefore one of the conditions for Veracel’s 

environmental permit. 

“When the whales are there, our barges sail 

slowly in order to disturb the whales and their 

calves as little as possible,” says Otavio Pontes, 

Senior Advisor, Stora Enso Biomaterials. 

“From time to time, researchers from Instituto 

Baleia Jubarte are also on board the barge, 

observing the whales and collecting information 

about them. Whales can usually be spotted on 

the barge route between May and September,” 

Pontes adds. 

Tarciso Andrade Matos, who is in charge 

of co-ordinating environmental management at 

Veracel, adds, however, that researchers can 

observe the whales from the barges until as late 

as the end of November. 

In order to increase local awareness on the 

importance of marine life protection, Veracel 

has also set up an exhibition at the mill port. The 

exhibition provides environmental information 

on the Brazilian coastal seas and the whale 

protection programme. 

Tourism – a part of the 

programme 

Instituto Baleia Jubarte is also involved in 

whale-watching trips organised for tourists. 

Tourism plays an important part of the protection 

programme. 

“Before a trip, we always give the tourists a 

lecture on whales and our protection programme 

and tell them what they can expect to see during 

their trip. Employees from the institute also come 

along on many of the trips to observe the whales,” 

Engel says. 

Today, the institute employs around thirty 

people; in the winter, between July and 

November, when the humpback whales arrive 

to reproduce on the Brazilian coast, university 

students and volunteers give them a hand. 

Even though the humpback whale population 

is increasing, the protectors still have a lot to 

do. In 2010, for example, an exceptionally high 

number of whales were found dead, with no 

obvious reason. 

“Human activity – faster and bigger boats 

and ships and the noise they emit, larger nets, oil 

drilling and climate change – these are the main 

threats that the humpback whales of the Brazilian 

coast are facing,” Marcondes lists. 


There are four billion people in the world living with a disposable 

income of less than fi ve euros per day. People living at the 

bottom of world’s economic pyramid often suffer from poor 

housing conditions and insuffi cient nutrition. Stora Enso took 

part in an innovation programme aiming to create shared value 

for those well below the poverty line. 

Text Niina Streng Photos Aalto University 

Fresh perspectives 


Lively squares 

Fruits and vegetables 

change owners in an 

Indian marketplace. 

Away from the slums 

Wood and fi bre- 

based materials hold 

much potential for 

construction and 

packaging in the 

developing world. 

There The are idea four underlying billion business people practices in the is world partly because living of non-existent with a disposable 

packaging. 

in poorer regions of the world is often And goods that are packed are often wrapped 

income to fi nd of solutions less than to social fi challenges ve euros per in day. plastic, Oftentimes, which is not a sustainable people solution. living 

at the through bottom new products of world’s and services. economic There pyramid is defi nitely suffer a need for from proper poor and environ- 

Usually, this requires radical innovation in both mentally friendly packaging,” says Risto Kallio, 

technology housing and conditions business models. and The objective bad nutrition. Stora Enso’s Aiming Renewable to create Packaging shared Business 

value, is to create Stora shared value Enso – product took and part service in an innovation Area representative programme. 

in the RAMI programme. 

innovations which benefi t all parties. In the 

best-case Text Nina Streng scenario, Photo local N.N. people, the company, 

the society as a whole as well as the nature all win. 

Creating shared value was at the heart of 

Stora Enso’s project that was part of Forestcluster 

Ltd’s Radical Market Innovations (RAMI) 

programme. RAMI aimed to create ideas for 

radical innovations outside the forest cluster’s 

traditional core business by teaming up seasoned 

experts from industry companies with young 

university students. Fresh thinking and new 

business opportunities are always welcomed at 

Stora Enso. 

Need for more sustainable 

solutions 

Breno Pimenta Faria Gil de Lima, Renato 

de Moraes Bonilha and Sujil Kodathoor are 

the three students who joined Stora Enso 

representatives in continuing the RAMI project 

during summer 2011. The team was scouting 

for mutually benefi cial business opportunities 

in low-income countries. De Lima and Bonilha 

are forestry postgraduate students from Brazil, 

and Kodathoor, who comes from India, holds 

a degree in design. For this trio of innovative 

youngsters, housing and packaging offered the 

most promising development opportunities. The 

students presented their proposals to Stora Enso 

executives in September 2011. 

“In countries where the state of nutrition is 

poor, tonnes of food gets ruined all the time. This 

Another major social concern in the 

developing world is housing. In India, for example, 

there are millions of people living in slums. Wood 

and fi bre-based materials could offer a costeffi 

cient, safe and environmentally sound option 

for meeting construction needs in the developing 

world, as well. 

Fruitful co-operation 

“Being part of this project team was a valuable 

experience for us. We got the opportunity to 

absorb a vast amount of knowledge and got 

important insights into various topics relevant not 

only for the forest cluster but also for people living 

in the region. The level of commitment shown by 

the entire team really stood out throughout the 

period,” says Breno Pimenta Faria Gil de Lima, 

one of the students in the team. 

The same enthusiastic spirit is refl ected in the 

mentor’s comments. 

“It was a pleasure to work with such talented 

young people who have the drive to search 

for new opportunities and who truly embrace 

challenges. The project was very successful 

– defi nitely a starting point for thinking about 

possible future work,” says Stora Enso’s Business 

Excellence Manager AnnaKarin Djupenström 

who mentored the students. 

The future will tell whether the students’ 

proposals lead to something concrete, but, in any 

case, one thing is certain: both Stora Enso and 

the students benefi ted from the experience. 


PeTrI ArTTurI AsIkAInen 


A new 

beginning 

Text Heli Pessala 

Finland’s forest reserves have been growing for generations – thanks to 

sustainable forestry. Laser scanning is one of the latest technologies used to 

map the forests’ continuous growth. 

stockholm, October 2011. Norwegian 

professor Eric Næsset enters the 

stage and shakes hands with the 

jury after receiveing the 2011 Marcus 

Wallenberg Prize for innovation. 

Næsset can’t help smiling. The prize is awarded 

annually for groundbreaking research in the 

forest industry, and Næsset has worked long 

and hard to get here. Næsset’s research group’s 

innovation, laser scanning, is one of the latest 

technologies in sustainable forestry. 

Næsset begins his speech by stating that the 

whole welfare of our planet depends on forests. 

Let’s jump back 90 years to 1921. National 

borders have just been redrawn on the world 

map, and in Finland, Professor Yrjö Ilvessalo and 

his survey team have initiated the world’s first 

forest inventory based on statistical sampling. 

The team performs the inventory by walking 

across the country, from southwest to northeast, 

documenting the forests that lie along their route. 

Six years and thousands of kilometres later, 

Ilvessalo’s report reveals that Finland’s forest 

stands are sparse with a low capacity for growth, 

and that more forest growth is needed in order to 

sustain felling. 

160 million seedlings 

The Nordic forests of 2011 can be seen as prime 

examples of sustainable forestry. As the decades 

have passed, forestry methods have come a long 

way, as has legislation. Public interest towards 

forest welfare is high, and the state of forests is 

constantly followed. 

“Our wood reserves are constantly growing, 

even though the amount of logging for industry 

has followed a rising trend in recent decades. 

That, if anything, is proof of Finland’s sustainable 

forestry leadership,” says Jorma Länsitalo, 

Director of Stora Enso Wood Supply Finland. 

In 2010, Finnish forests grew nearly 100 million 

cubic metres – 40 million cubic metres more than 

the amount felled for industry. New forests grow 

in a number of ways: by sowing seeds, planting 

wood seedlings or through fostering natural 

seeding. 160 million new seedlings are planted in 

the Finnish forests every year. The evenly growing 

tree volumes act as an enormous carbon sink 

– during the past 10 years Finnish forests have 

each year absorbed on average some 35 tonnes 

of carbon dioxide from the air. 

“To reach a steady raw material flow, forest 

owners also need to be willing to sell their wood. 

Harvesting, however, plays an important role in 

forestry as well,” Länsitalo reminds us. 

The state of Finnish forests is also vital to the 

national economy. Half a million Finns make their 

living either directly or indirectly from forestry, 

and the multiplier effects of the industry echo 

throughout society. Outside growth centres, 

in particular, the forest industry is a significant 

employer in wood harvesting and transport. 6% 

of Finland’s gross domestic product is based on 

the forest. 

Slow growth 

Key reasons for the continued growth of Finnish 

forests include long-term work in developing 

sustainable forest management methods, the 

combination of various forms of forest utilisation 

and the long tradition of forest ownership in 

families. More than half of the wood procured 

in Finland by Stora Enso is bought from private 

family forest owners. 

“Some 60% of Finnish forests are privately 

owned, and forest estates are typically small. 

Forests are passed on from generation to 

generation. Because of our short growth 

periods due to Finland’s cold climate, only future 

generations will see the effects of many current 

measures carried out in the forests. The goal is 

to manage and grow forests to ensure that there 

will be enough of them for future generations to 

enjoy,” states Länsitalo. 

Alongside tradition, strict legislation obliges 

Finnish forest owners and their counterparts 

across Europe to act sustainably. According to the 

Finnish Forest Act, forest owners are responsible 

for establishing a new seedling stand within three 

years of completing regeneration felling. 

“Sustainability and the traceability of the origin 

of wood form the basis for all of our wood supply 

operations. We have precise data concerning 

the origin of all the wood we use: in other words, 


proof that the wood comes from sustainably 

managed forests,” Länsitalo points out. 

Laser forestry 

To ensure the welfare of the forests, one has 

to know the forest reserve. The laser scanning 

method developed by Professor Næsset offers a 

new, more effi cient tool for measuring forests. 

Airborne manual laser scanning is a quick and 

cost-effective means of collecting highly accurate 

data from broad forest areas – the scanner 

provides 3D data on the forest, down to a single 

tree. 

On the basis of the scanning database, all 

the detailed parameters necessary for planning 

sustainable forestry can be determined – the tree 

species contained in the forest, the age of the 

trees and the wood volume. 

Laser scanning is a remote surveying method 

for carrying out forest inventories. It is based on 

laser pulses transmitted by a scanner located 

on an aeroplane fl ying at a height of some 2 000 

metres, which travel back to the sensor after they 

hit the surface. With the data on the aircraft’s scan 

E f fi c i e n t scanning 

The laser scanner 

located on an 

aeroplane scannes a 

forest area of 1 000 

metres at a time. 

CorbIs / skoY / mILTTon 


sTorA enso 

Scanning for more 

information 

“With laser scanning 

data, we can plan 

forest maintenance 

in even more detail,” 

says Jorma Länsitalo, 

Head of Stora Enso 

Wood Supply Finland. 

angle and the travel time of the laser pulses, the 

height of the target that has been hit by a pulse is 

determined. The fi nal interpretation of the stand 

is done with a 3D point cloud that includes all the 

laser pulse hits saved during the scanning fl ight. 

Every point represents a target for which the 

scanner has received a return laser pulse signal. 

“Amongst remote surveying techniques, 

laser scanning is a very interesting method. In 

Finland, it will become the mainstream method 

for carrying out forest inventories in the near 

future,” says Länsitalo. “Data obtained with a 

laser scanner is more diverse and accurate than 

the stand values based on previous methods, 

mostly surveys on the ground and satellite and 

aerial photos.” 

All private forests in Finland will be laser 

scanned by 2015 for the purpose of creating 

an up-to-date forest reserve database. The 

database will be supplemented with terrain 

surveys and aerial photos taken during the 

various seasons. 

Länsitalo explains the benefi ts of laser 

scanning, “More accurate data on the stands 

results in improved forestry plans and more 

accurate fi eld measures, as these can be targeted 

precisely at a confi ned area at just the right time.” 

The needs and targets of forest owners 

change as forests are passed on to new 

generations. When their needs and forests 

are better understood, customer service will 

also improve, since contact with forest owners 

can be made at just the right stage of forest 

management. 

Towards the future 

Data that concerns wood reserves will play an 

increasingly important role as we strive to fi nd 

alternatives to materials based on non-renewable 

resources. Wood and wood fi bre are already 

being used to manufacture everything from 

apartment buildings to antioxidants. 

Laser scanning method benefi ts not only the 

welfare of the forests and our planet, but also 

business – helping new products produced from 

renewable and recyclable material to see the light 

of day. Well-managed and diverse forests are a 

prerequisite for future innovations. 

“It is important that new technologies and 

ways of working are continuously discovered in 

the forest management sector too, so that we, 

as a company, can respond to the challenges 

of a changing world even better than before,” 

Länsitalo summarises. “Wood and wood fi bre, 

steadily renewable raw materials, help create 

the foundations for the world in which future 

generations will live.” 

Flying around the log yard 

Photoshooting 

Photos taken from an 

unmanned aerial vehicle 

can be used to survey 

wood chip piles and 

wood stacks. The photo 

shows Kaukopää Mill’s 

terminal at Imatra in the 

snowy winter of 2011. 

How can a compact camera be used for inventories? 

Stora Enso has adapted an aerial surveyor modelled 

to take inventories of wood stacks, among other 

objects, by taking photographs from an unmanned 

aerial vehicle (UAV) equipped with a regular compact camera. 

The UAV, fl ying at a height of 100 metres, fl ies along a set 

fl ight path and takes pictures according to the programmed 

fl ight and imaging plan. In addition to a few hundred aerial 

photos, only the photo’s average coordinate, saved in the 

camera, is needed for fi nal interpretation and processing of 

a 3D image of the target. Within half an hour, the UAV can 

photograph an area of around twenty hectares. 

“A database achieved in this way can be compared with 

one achieved by laser scanning; i.e. the fi nal interpretation 

is made using the 3D cloud points produced using the aerial 

photographs and the average coordinates of the photos. Large 

expanses of areas can be calculated within an accuracy of a 

suunTAkArTTA / mosAICmILL 

few centimetres conveniently and at low cost using the UAV,” 

says Development manager Paula Susila, Stora Enso Wood 

Supply Finland. 

Surveying using a UAV was fi rst tested in 2010 to measure 

piles of wood chips and wood stacks at the Finnish Uimaharju 

Sawmill, and then again in 2011 at Imatra Mills’ Kaukopää Mill, 

and at the Sunila, Veitsiluoto and Oulu mills. 

UAV surveying is perfectly suited for taking inventory of 

stocks or for carrying out extensive inspections elsewhere 

in the log yard or terminal. Extremely accurate surveying 

results on wood chip piles can be obtained, and wood stack 

inventories can also be carried out with a UAV. This imaging 

technology is also commonly used in urban planning, road 

construction, mining and other areas. 

“Such detailed surveying data is not really required in 

charting forest areas, although these detailed images of forests 

are visually impressive,” says Susila. 


How do you manage a massive pulp mill 

construction project? Richard Turner kept 

a diary revealing his daily life in Punta 

Pereira, Uruguay, where Montes del Plata, 

a joint venture of Stora Enso and Arauco, is 

constructing a world-class mill. 

uruguay 

diary 

THe TourIsm AssoCIATIon oF THe DePArTmenT oF CoLonIA AnD THe munICIPALITY oF CoLonIA 


20 December 2011 

A project of Montes del Plata’s size – we are 

building one of the largest pulp mills in the 

world – has national relevance in Uruguay. It is the 

largest private investment in the country’s history. 

Inevitably, then, leading the construction project 

is not just about engineering, but also includes 

some PR activities here and there. 

As part of an end-of-year event with local 

authorities, Erwin Kaufmann, CEO of Montes del 

Plata, and I met the mayor of the department of 

Colonia, Dr. Walter Zimmer, his team and several 

other local authorities at the site canteen. Over 

lunch, we talked about the plans for the following 

months and the topics that concerned them, in 

order to find common solutions. 

Before lunch, the authorities visited the new 

houses which will lodge workers in the cities 

CeLenA GArCíA 

Idyllic living 

The charming city of 

Carmelo can use the 

apartments build for 

construction workers 

in social housing after 

the project. 

Around the world 

Prior to his work 

with Montes del 

Plata Canadian 

Richard Turner has 

participated in similar 

projects in Brazil, 

China and Indonesia. 

CeLenA GArCíA 

of Carmelo and Colonia del Sacramento and 

witnessed the impressive advances in the road 

works. This 15 kilometres extension of Route 55 

will connect the mill with Route 21, avoiding the 

passage of heavy vehicles through the historic 

village of Conchillas. This particularly impressed 

Dr. Zimmer. 

23 December 2011 

After a long three-day trip, my wife Endang and 

daughter Tyaz finally arrived in Uruguay, together 

with our dog Joey, to settle down in the charming 

city of Colonia del Sacramento, declared a 

UNESCO World Heritage site in 1995. 

This is a rather different Christmas and New 

Year’s celebration, one which we share with 

friends from work and their families in a very 

multi-cultural and cheerful environment. 

2 January 2012 

The future mill site was silent with almost 

everyone in recess – in Uruguay it is something 

of a construction holiday. The perfect time to 

evaluate 2011 and reorganise work for 2012. 


The recess is over: time to bring together the 

whole team to provide guidelines for the year 

ahead. In a project of this magnitude, it is vital 

that all efforts are aligned and we are one team 

with one common goal. 

Of all the 4 000 construction site workers, 

90% are Uruguayan, and among the Uruguayans, 

more than 30% come from Colonia. There are 

altogether 20 different nationalities constructing 

this mill! 

The January board meeting of Montes 

del Plata took place today in London. Taking 

advantage of technology, I choose to participate 

virtually and stay in Uruguay supporting the team 

in the resuming works. These are busy days 

indeed! 


The day started fairly early with José Vivanco 

from Arauco and Sakari Eloranta from 

Stora Enso, who are advising us. We did a tour 

around the different works and evaluated the 

advances in each area. The new mill is expected 

to be up and running by the end of the first 

quarter of 2013 – we are on schedule. 

Today we had the first weekly Montes del Plata 

Management Meeting of the year. We are holding 

these meetings on the site, where we bring up 

matters that need to be co-ordinated between 

different areas of Montes del Plata and between 

the corporate area and the construction project. 

In the afternoon, I participated in a meeting 

with the Port team and the contractor. They 

presented the plans for 2012, and we adjusted 

details of the work to be done. 

It was a warm night. My wife and I took our 

daughter to our favorite parrillada, grill restaurant, 

called El Portón. The Uruguayan meat really lives 

up to its reputation. 


With great expectations for the arrival of industrial 

machinery from Europe via the nearby port 

of Nueva Palmira, the Coordinator team and I 

defined the logistical details of transporting these 

massive equipments to the plant. 

Next month, we will begin to exploit our rock 

quarry near Conchillas, which will serve the port 

construction. We need to have all the technical 

details in place and also ensure the participation 

of the Sustainability staff to have the community 

involved in every step of this process, since the 

quarry hasn’t been used for many years. 

Minutes after midday on a very hot January 

day, I had lunch at the Colonia West Hotel, 

which was inaugurated very recently. Only a few 

kilometres both from the site and from Conchillas, 

it is very useful for Montes del Plata’s purposes 

and has also boosted local employment since 

almost all of its staff is from Conchillas. This is the 

kind of positive impact that a project this size can 

bring along with it. 

With these thoughts in mind, I go back to work. 

There is still much to be done. 


Point of view Designer Sofi a Blomberg views her work with consumer products 

Five insights to creative packaging 

the consumer’s shoes 

When creating a package, I fi rst listen to the 

expectations my client has, then try to put myself 

Certified 

in the shoes of the consumer. It is very important 

to align packaging costs with product price and 

to make sure the quality and characteristics of the 

chosen material suit the product. In my designs, I 

also try to be environmentally sound. Packaging 

excellence. 

should be reusable or refi llable, and recyclable. 

This is a subject close to my heart. 

2 BERSA bersA 

Telling a story 

A package has to tell the story of its contents, 

Sofi a Blomberg 

refl ecting what’s inside. Functionality also plays a 

Out of the box 

This is annual a Swedish report has been key printed role: packaging on LumiArt has and to be LumiSilk smart and art easy printing to 

papers. The 

Bag-in-box Lumi product 

wine packaging family is 

has 

developed 

for freelance applications art that require use exceptionally and show personality high quality through in its text look printing and feel 

and image been reproduction. around for about In art 30 print years, business, but 

Lumi director translates and graphic to excellence – materials, in all languages. shape, colour, typography and fi nish. 

Vernissage wine’s innovative design 

designer working To be appealing, packaging should be different, 

takes it to a whole new level. The new 

with packaging 

interesting and touch the user on an emotional level. 

The Lumi products have been awarded with the EU Ecolabel – the most prominent package environmental was born accolade when the owner 

in Europe. 

design, advertising 

This accolade joins Forest Stewardship 

3 Standing out Council’s (FSC) and Programme for the of Endorsement the Vernissage of wine Forest brand, Certification Takis 

and graphic identity. 

Standing out 

Scheme’s Her clients (PEFC) include environmental I accolades, always try to which be open-minded had already when been creating awarded to Lumi. Soldatos, The Lumi graphic products designer are S o rethinking fi a 

Her clients include 

I always try to be open-minded when creating 

Blomberg and Italian packaging 

the Oenoforos, business in H&M terms and of sustainability a package. I and look quality. at what is available on the market 

supplier BoxMarche joined forces and 

Orifl ame. 

and try to create something new and innovative, 

shared their ideas. 

but not too diffi cult to understand. The message 

Their objective was to design a 

a package sends needs to be clear because 

special bag-in-box wine for female 

you have very little time to convince a customer 

consumers in the Swedish market. 

choosing between products in a shop. Packaging 

The Vernissage wine itself had been 

has to stand out from the crowd. 

available in Sweden since 2008 with 

4 attractive and elegant packaging, 

In line with contents 

created in white and gold – impressive 

When consumers have similar products 

but conventional. 

to choose from, packaging is what makes the 

The package was redesigned from 

difference. It can help a product sell more than its 

the shape onwards. Materials, graphics 

competitors. Consumers are also willing to spend 

and fi nishes were also carefully 

more on a product with appealing packaging. But 

selected to meet practical require- 

beautiful design alone is not enough; attractive 

ments while conveying sophistication 

packaging may sell the product once, but 

and elegance. The package holds three 

consumers won’t come back for that alone. The 

litres of wine, so it was also necessary 

contents need to fulfi l the expectations set by 

to ensure sturdiness under such a 

strong design. 

weight. For this reason, Boxmarche 

selected Stora Enso’s thin CKB board. 

Building a brand with a package 

Upon the new Vernissage 

5 Coca-Cola really stands out in this respect. 

package’s launch at the beginning of 

They have used their packaging design for about 

2010, the wine’s sales increased by 

a century, and are very good at using it in their 

500%. Image The from packaging the has received 

brand building. Another good example is Kleenex, 

several with its triangular boxes of tissues. The package LUMI innovation PHOTOGRAPHIC 

and design prizes 

with its triangular boxes of tissues. The package 

worldwide. 

is ingenious and attractive, yet simple. Same old 

ART AWARDS 

paper tissues, but the packaging makes all the 

by honorary award winner 

difference. 

Wawi Navarroza 


1 In VERNISSAGE 

VernIssAGe 

From the series “Dominion” 

Cover stock: LumiArt 170 g/m 2 Stora Enso, Oulu Mill (ISO 14001 certi ed) 

Text stock: LumiArt 115 g/m 2 and LumiSilk 100 g/m 2 Stora Enso, Oulu Mill (ISO 14001 certi ed) 

It should be noted that certain statements herein which are not historical facts, including, without limitation those regarding expectations for market growth and 

developments; expectations for growth and pro tability; and statements preceded by “believes”, “expects”, “anticipates”, “foresees”, or similar expressions, are forwardlooking 

statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Since these statements are based on current plans, estimates 

and projections, they involve risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to materially differ from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. Such 

factors include, but are not limited to: (1) operating factors such as continued success of manufacturing activities and the achievement of ef ciencies therein, continued 

success of product development, acceptance of new products or services by the Group’s targeted customers, success of the existing and future collaboration 

arrangements, changes in business strategy or development plans or targets, changes in the degree of protection created by the Group’s patents and other intellectual 

property rights, the availability of capital on acceptable terms; (2) industry conditions, such as strength of product demand, intensity of competition, prevailing and future 

global market prices for the Group’s products and the pricing pressures thereto, price uctuations in raw materials, nancial condition of the customers and the competitors 

of the Group, the potential introduction of competing products and technologies by competitors; and (3) general economic conditions, such as rates of economic growth 

in the Group’s principal geographic markets or uctuations in exchange and interest rates.

We have lots of 

challenges. They 

can become your 

opportunities. 

Let’s face it. Work is sometimes boring. There! We said 

it! But wait a minute. Work is so much more fun if you 

have enough challenges and manage to turn those 

challenges into great opportunities. Doing exactly that is 

perhaps the best thing you can do for your CV. At Stora 

Enso, we have been through some major changes in 

recent years, and we are still in a change process. We 

call this process ‘rethink’, and this is what we are looking 

for: People with rethinking attitudes and capabilities 

who produce strong results from what sometimes 

appears to be obstacles. 

In short, we’d like to say that you are the opportunity. 

And we promise to treat you like one. 

Did we forget to mention that you will have more than 

30 000 colleagues on five continents – all engaged in 

rethinking the biomaterials, paper, packaging, and wood 

products industry? If you don’t think this sounds like a 

complex task, please rethink, and just imagine the 

technology inside a jumbo jet – because we actually put 

more technology into our production processes. 

Find out more at storaenso.com/careers 

Scan and go directly to our career site

Stora Enso Annual Report 2011 - Rethink Volume 2 - Innovation ...

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